A New Frontier
by Rogue Pizza
Summary: What would you do if you suddenly had a ship full of people you had to suddenly take care of? Follow the story of this Militia Pilot who now has the responsibility of taking care of his father's ship and crew along with the military personnel that came with it. Not only that but how shall he react when he realize that he is in a new frontier?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** **Pilot = Elite Infantry, pilot = Military personnel that operates a aerial vehicle. Grunt = Common foot soldier, grunt = new recruit . . . It's going to get confusing anyway**

 **Chapter I:**

 **Prologue**

 **Two years after the end of the Campaign . . .**

()()()()

 **2:41 PM, Meni II, Pharri Spaceport**

"If your asses ain't on the evac ships in thirty seconds, your shit out of luck!"

Bullets impacted into the concrete a couple feet behind a fleeing Militia Pilot, his G2A4 rifle smacked against his back with every long stride he took. The Militia Grunts around him were panicking, there was no evac for Grunts, only Pilots. It didn't matter for long for the Grunts around the fleeing Pilot as they were slaughtered by the pursuing Atlas Titan who had made it seem that its mission in life was to eliminate the fleeing Pilot. The 20mm rounds from the Atlas's XO-16 Chaingun quickly took care of Grunts unfortunate to have happened to wander out onto the street as it passed by. However, the Pilot it was chasing was an entirely different story. Fully utilizing his Jumpkit, the Militia Pilot used the surrounding debris and narrow streets to evade the lethal ammunition that was never far behind him.

After rounding a corner and with seventeen seconds left on the clock before evac pulled out, the three story civilian building came into view. His task was get to the top of it before the time ran out. Any other day, it would have been a piece of cake for him to make it up there, but with the Atlas right behind him and with it knowing exactly where he was going, made the task slightly more dangerous. As if an answer to his unsaid prayer, two more Titans started rushing toward him from the objective. However, instead of the white and blue that designated IMC personal and Titans, the ones rushing toward him were two lovely colors of orange and sage. The Militia Atlas's 40mm Cannon along with the Stryder's Quad Rocket flashed and smoked as they launched a barrage of fire at the pursuing enemy Titan. The Atlas, now seeing that the tides had changed quickly boosted sideways down an adjacent alleyway.

While the IMC Titan was being manned by a Pilot, with a quick look with his HUD, he found that his two saviors were in fact, being operated by AI's. Not wasting any time, the Militia Pilot jumped and boosted his way to the top of the friendly Atlas. Once he was situated on top, he boosted himself up the rest of the building and pulled himself onto the roof only to find a nasty surprise waiting for him. Four Spectres were shooting at the dropship but only seemed to slightly chip away at the spacecraft's shields with their weapons.

When he pulled himself up onto the roof, all four of the robots quickly registered his presence. But before they could aim their weapons, the Pilot vanished. A second after the figure vanished, the head of one of the Spectres was ripped off shortly before the robot's carcass was thrown at another, pinning it to the ground. With a loud bark of a gun, a hole was blown in the chest of the third Spectre, disabling it permanently. However, when the third Spectre was destroyed, the Cloaking of the Pilot vanished revealing him to the Spectre who immediately trained it sights and fired. The Spectre's R-97 Compact SMG's rounds slammed into the Pilot causing him to stumble back slightly. But the Pilot's Kevlar held turning the few deadly shots that hit him into severe bruises.

With two more shots from the Pilot's B3 Wingman, the final Spectre was reduced to a sparking heap of metal. The Militia Pilot holstered his sidearm and ran toward the transport with a mere seven seconds left. He passed through the dropship's shield uninhibited and took a quick look around the ship's small interior. Other than the two pilots that sat in the front flying the dropship and the Marvin that sat near the exit ramp, he was all alone. None of the other Pilots had made it to the extraction point, either they were dead or delayed and soon to be dead.

"Wait! Don't leave yet!"

The Militia Pilot turned toward the open door to find two Militia Grunts who had abandoned their weapons and made it to the roof using stairs, sprinting toward the evac ship. The Pilot shouted to the two flying the ship, "Hold on we got friendlies a couple seconds out!"

One of the pilots glanced out the window to the side before they took ahold of the controls, "Their only Grunts, we're pulling out now!"

A bullet flew between the two pilots and impacted harmlessly at the foot of the main pilot. The two flyers looked back to see the Pilot holding his sidearm toward the two of them and with a stern voice and commanding voice said, "Wait."

The Pilot quickly motioned with his free hand toward the Grunts, "Get your asses on!"

Another few seconds and they would have made it onto the evac ship, if the one Spectre pinned under its dead comrade hadn't reached out and grabbed one of the Grunt's ankles. The grappled Grunt let out a shriek helping him identify the individual as a female. The other Grunt quickly turned around and started stomping on the Spectre's arm, trying to get it to release his friend. To make matters worse, the Pilot could see several metal hands grasping onto the side of the building as more Spectre's started to pull themselves up.

"We got several Titans incoming, we have to get out of here now!" One of the pilots shouted back.

His statement was met with the Pilot throwing a bag toward the front of the ship to have it stick to the back of one of the pilot's seats. While the two flyers were not ground infantry, they both identified the small bag as a Satchel Charge. The two of them looked at the Pilot with horrified expressions as the Pilot jumped out while saying, "You leave without us, you won't make orbit."

Any Spectre clawing its way to the roof was quickly met by the Pilot's precise Semi-Auto G2A4 rifle. The Pilot slid to a stop in the crouched position next to the two Grunts as he dispatched two more Spectres, "What's taking so long?! Get her out of there!"

"I don't have anything to get her out with!" The Grunt screamed as he continued to stomp on the Spectre's arm. The Spectre itself which was still active seemed very keen on getting out from under its dead robotic friend to kill the three Militia in front of it. However two shots from the Pilot's rifle to its face stop it all together. The female Grunt merely kept her head down as she continued to sob through the gunfight going on around her.

Once they had a brief pause in newly arriving Spectres, the Pilot shoved the Grunt to the side, reached down, and ripped the Spectre's arm out from the shoulder joint. He quickly picked up the woman and shoved her into the arms of the male Grunt. The Pilot picked up his rifle and began to pick off newly arriving Spectres while the two Grunts made a break for the evac ship which was fifteen seconds passed it extraction time.

A couple seconds passed before the Militia Pilot looked out into the distance to see something that made his blood chill. Several IMC Pilots were rapidly approaching across the rooftops with various weapons, and he was almost out ammunition for both of his weapons. Deciding that it was now time to get the hell out of dodge, he once again shouldered his rifle, did a one-eighty, and sprinted as fast as he could for the evac ship screaming at the top of his lungs as he did.

Seeing that he was approaching, the pilots began to pull the ship away in preparation of Jumping to orbit. However the Grunts had yet to make it to the ship yet and by the time they had made it to the edge, the ship had already pulled to a distance they couldn't jump. However, to a Pilot, it was quite literally a hop, skip and a jump away. The Pilot grabbed the two Grunts by their uniforms and jumped as hard as he could while he activated his Jumpkit.

The three of them slammed into the hold of the dropship and rolled into the opposite side of the ship that they had entered Pilot didn't bother sitting up as he screamed through his helmet comm, "GO GO GO!"

The two pilots began pressing numerous button on their consoles in rapid succession, "We got missile locks!"

"Ten seconds to Jump!"

"We got got several Titans tracking us!"

"Six seconds to Jump!"

The ship began to shake and rock even more than it had before, "Shields depleted, our hull is taking serious damage!"

"Jumping in Three . . ." Spects of lights dotted the sides of everyone's vision.

"Two . . ." A orb of blue light appeared in everyone's vision and began to rapidly expand and glow brighter.

"We aren't gonna make it!" Screamed the co-pilot.

"One . . . Mark!" A blinding white light overtook everyone's vision for a brief second before the light dissipated in flecks of blue lights as their vision returned to normal.

The Pilot sat up and looked out the nearby cracked window, thankfully the windows on dropships were reinforced in case they were cracked or else the vacuum of space would have sucked them out. One of the pilots looked back to the three survivors, "Nobody touch anything, or else you might poke a hole in the ship."

The two Grunts sat up up and tore off their helmets. The male had ginger hair with brown eyes while the female had bleached blonde hair with brown eyes as well. Both Grunts hair never passed their shoulders as was regulation. But what caught the Pilot's attention the most was that they both looked to be in their teens, twenty at most. The two teenagers in front of him began to kiss passionately, disregarding him and the other two pilots entirely. The two of them had been through quite a lot, they both deserved to have a little moment to themselves.

The two of them broke their kiss after about half a minute and continued to just hold each other closely before the boy broke the silence, "I thought we were both done for down there."

"Why did you try and help me? You could have died! What about our promise?" The girl asked.

"I know what I promised, but that is one promise that I will never fulfill. I would rather die with you than leave you behind to the mercy of those IMC dogs."

"And you two have me to thank that these two flyboys didn't leave you behind." The Pilot finally spoke up.

The two Grunts turned toward the Pilot and began practically bowing to the Pilot, "Thank you," The boy started, "Without you, we would both be dead. But I had to ask, why did you help us?"

The girl nodded her head in agreement with what he guess was her boyfriend. The Pilot sighed before speaking, "There is a feeling that you get deep down inside of yourself when you're the only one that made it to the evac point. That feeling of regret, sorrow, pity, and most of all, shame. Why did I get to live while everyone else was left behind? I have felt this many times before, and each time it happens, it just eats away at me more and more. When I saw the chance to make the ride back to the ship a little less lonely, I didn't hesitate to take it. Being the sole survivor isn't a blessing, it's a curse, a punishment."

The two Grunts just sat there, processing what the Pilot had told them. Even through his helmet's speakers, they could tell that he wasn't that much older than the two of them. They were unable to ask any of their questions when the Pilot beat them to the punch, "Rank, Name, Age, and favorite ice cream flavor."

"Uh . . ." The girl began, "Private First Class Malon Rivans, seventeen but I turn eighteen next week. Ice cream . . . uh . . . Mint Chocolate Chip I guess."

The Pilot sighed, "Christ, not even eighteen and you almost died today."

The boy spoke up when the Pilot glanced at him, "I'm Corporal Jonathan Rivans, nineteen, Cookie Dough."

"Rivans? Are you brother an-"

"No!" Jonathan practically shouted before lowering his voice, "We were married before our first deployment. We both joined the Militia because we want to fight for a future that we can raise family without fear from the IMC."

Malon nodded as she wrapped her arm around one of his. The boy smiled at the contact and gave the girl a light kiss on the forehead. The Malon turned her attention back to the Pilot, "And who are you, I would like to know who saved us."

"Same here." Jonathan added.

The Pilot removed his helmet revealing his blonde hair with natural brown tips. His eyes were a light blue, similar to sky's on a sunny day. A faded scar stretched from just under his eye, diagonally down toward his jawbone.

"Lieutenant Colonel Talon James Ryker, twenty-two, and Cherry Garcia."

The two Grunts, now realizing that they were talking with a high ranking officer, quickly threw up salutes. Talon waved them off with a sigh, "Please don't salute me. I'm only a officer in name, in all honesty I should be a Staff Sergeant at most if I wasn't bumped up the ranks. Hardly have any officer training at all."

Both Malon and Jonathan looked at each other confused by the Pilot's words, but they both dropped their salutes as requested by the Pilot. A questioned sat in Jonathan's mind for a good minute before he couldn't hold it in any longer, "If I may sir, may I ask why a Lieutenant Colonel is fighting on the ground? Shouldn't you be back on the Solar Spirit, coordinating the attack?"

"As I said, I have hardly any officer training at all. I do better as better as a soldier than a strategist." Talon reached over to Malon's ankle and pried the Spectre's fingers off in one smooth action before tossing the arm to the side, "Rather be on the ground fighting than telling another to do the fighting for me anyway."

"We're two mikes out from the Solar Spirit." The co-pilot called out from the front.

The main pilot leaned over in his chair and shouted back to the three of them, "Hey, Pilot. Come get this Satchel Charge off my chair already, it's a little unnerving."

Talon stood up and sauntered his way over to the still primed explosive, with a couple clicks on the small interface, the explosive gave out a low beep before Talon pried it off and attached it to his waist again. While the Pilot retrieved his ordnance, Malon was deep in thought. She had heard the name Ryker before but she couldn't place her finger on where exactly she heard it. In fact, she could remember that she heard the name quite often around the Solar Spirit.

It finally hit her when Talon sat back down in front of them, "Ryker! You're the son of-"

Talon let out a loud groan unbefitting an officer of the military, "Please don't remind me. I hate being compared to that man."

Not understanding the history or the current situation of the Ryker family, the two Grunts decided that it would be best to remain silent for the rest of the trip back to the ship.

()()()()

 **3:10 PM, Solar Spirit**

The Solar Spirit was an identical copy to the IMC's now destroyed IMS Sentinel. During a surprise attack by the Militia on a IMC resupply base, Pilots of the G-COR or more commonly known as Griffin Corps managed to seize a IMC carrier during the attack and take three hundred prisoners which made up the carrier's crew. Being the ones to steal the ship, Griffin Corps commanding officer transferred himself and his fighting men and women to the pristine ship. The IMS Melancholy was soon rechristened as the Solar Spirit and had been serving the Militia for around a year now.

The Solar Spirit now carried two thousand fighting Militia men and women with a crew of five hundred and two hundred more non-combatants. The Militia had struck gold by stealing the IMC carrier, weapons of war being already welded into the ship. Titan construction facilities allowed for rapid construction and deployment of Titans for Pilots on the ground anywhere. The ship also had a small munitions factory built in to allow for the manufacture of arms and ammunition for when the Solar Spirit would be on extended deployments. Another less used edition was the vehicle factory that added with the munitions. While the facility had the ability to produce both ground and aerial vehicles, the ship would have to physically land to deploy the ground vehicles. The vehicle facility had been modified to produce the Militia's trademark cheaper yet still effective Crow dropships and Hornet fighters instead of the more costly IMC Goblin dropship and Phantom fighter. The ship came equipped with Drop Pods for rapid deployment of infantry but many of the larger ships had Drop Pod systems built in as well as Spectre racks for the small time rapid construction and deployment of Spectres. Something that the Militia had managed to shove in some of the remaining unused space was the ability to conduct small mining operations. On long deployments and cut off from any other Militia support, the Solar Spirit had the ability to deep scan a planet and land on the surface that had ore or minerals they required. With the assistance of Titans, they could have a small operation in a little over sixteen hours.

Weapons of war weren't the only thing built into the ship. Multiple research labs had been built into the ship as well, each being able to hold several sciences inside. The Solar Spirit's non-combatants were made entirely up of scientists, medical professionals, and archaeologists. The job of these men and women varied, depending on what walk of science they were from. Some of them worked on better food preservation or food replication, others worked on improving the Militia's gear while few others constructed cybernetic limbs for those Pilots who had lost limbs in combat. The medical professionals kept the soldiers alive and tried to get them back to the fighting as soon as possible. The archaeologists who were less prevalent on the ship were there to catalog any ruins found on the surface and secured before hand.

Normally, scientists wouldn't place themselves on a military ship serving on the front lines. However, when word got out that the Jump Core in the Solar Spirit had been identified as an experimental type, several scientists immediately offered up their services in order to study the Core and see if they could possibly replicate it. The Jump Core of the Solar Spirit was a giant step in Warp Core technology, it had the ability to make pinpoint Jumps with only a five meter potential error. If the Solar Spirit wanted to make a precise jump to stop three meters the surface of a planet, it could do it. Once the first few scientists came aboard, others slowly trickled on.

()()()()

The dropship floated up into one of the under-belly hangers that was spread out across the underside of the ship. When the Crow dropship landed, it creaked and groaned before the weakened ship fell apart slightly. The sudden change in the ship's structure caused the three standing infantry to fall to the ground. All three of them looked at each other for a second before they all burst out laughing, the ship had just managed to hold together back to the hangar before finally giving up. The main pilot walked quickly passed the three laughing infantry but not without sending a glare at the unhelmeted Pilot before forcing the loading ramp open. The co-pilot merely collected a couple things before hurrying off after the main pilot.

The main hangar of Solar Spirit was clustered returning ships and Pilots who had made it out of the fray. Several crying military personnel entered Talon's vision as he searched for someone, hoping that a friend of his had made it back unlike the others who the weepers were now mourning. While most of the grieving personnel were Grunts that hadn't been deployed who were distraught about those left behind, a few Pilots could be seen crying as well having lost another fellow comrade.

Talon finally found who he was looking for when he saw brown haired Pilot helping another helmeted Pilot who had taken a few bullets through the leg. Once the injured Pilot was sitting on a nearby crate Talon ran out with his arms spread, "Trevor!"

The brown haired Pilot in his late twenties wheeled around with a grin on his face, "Well, well, I see a certain Lieutenant Colonel has disregarded orders once again."

The two Pilots gave each other a brief firm hug. Trevor continued to smile at Talon until he glanced over Talon's shoulder to see two grunts walking off a wrecked dropship in the direction Talon came from. The grin quickly turned to a scowl, "You didn't do it again, did you?"

"Come on man! Don't be like that, they are human beings just like you and me!" Talon responded.

Trevor sighed as he placed a hand on Talon's shoulder, "Talon, they're Grunts. They're expendable. Pilots are a valuable resource in this war."

Talon brushed the hand off, "You sound just like my old man."

"I take that as a compliment."

"You shouldn't," Talon began, "If start saying that Grunts are just an expendable resource, then how are we any better then the IMC?"

Trevor pointed an accusing finger at Talon, "Don't you dare compare us to the IMC, we're fighting for the freedom of the Frontier while all they want to do is to turn a profit! To win, sacrifices must be made!"

Talon was an inch away from Trevor's face as he screamed, "And just how many more have to be made?! We are literally leaving people behind because we can't bother to spend the resources to rescue them! Every time we fail to do our job, more of our own people are killed! Just like when James Mcallen failed to properly overload the reactors on Demeter."

"James Mcallen is a hero to the Militia, he is the reason the Militia are winning the war!"

"James Mcallen is a murderer! If his so called perfect planned worked, thousands of Militia soldiers would still be here today!"

A sharp right hook was delivered across Talon's face, causing him to fall to the ground. Trevor seethed with rage, "I know how you feel alright! I lost my sister on Demeter, just like you lost your brother! Not a single day goes by that I don't wish it was me instead of her! But here I am, I was there on with her on Demeter but fate decided to take her and let me live. And I don't need to hear the story for the hundredth time about how you sat there with your brother as the radiation slowly killed him!"

Talon stood up with a hand on his bruised cheek as Trevor took a deep breath to calm himself. With a quick look around the hanger, Trevor found that they had attracted the attention of nearly everyone within a hundred meter radius.

Trevor shook his head and sighed as he placed another hand on Talon's shoulder, his voice now calm, "Look . . . I, um . . . I'm sorry. I know Demeter is a touchy subject and we both lost someone close. But you gotta remember the good things, I mean, we did meet each other on Demeter."

Talon pulled Trevor in a tight hug, "We're gonna win this war, right? We're gonna win it for Johnny and Diana, right?"

Trevor sighed again as he patted Talon on the back, "Yeah, we're going to win it not only for them, but all of those who didn't make it out. Now stand up straight man, at least look the part of an officer even if you don't like it."

The officer took a couple steps backs and stood up straight, "I apologize for yelling."

"Same here, and punching you as well."

Talon had a small smile across his face, "Might be able to get you court-martialed for that."

"Yeah right, the Militia may be a military but we don't have anything along those lines." Trevor counter with a light chuckle.

Before Talon could say any retort, the PA system in the hanger caught their attention, "Lieutenant Colonel Talon James Ryker, you are to report to the bridge immediately. Lieutenant Colonel Talon James Ryker, to the bridge immediately."

Trevor took a deep breath, "Nice knowing you man."

"I've dealt with it before, I can do it again. You owe me a drink later you bastard." Talon waved to his friend as he started to head into another potential fight.

()()()()

The bridge door hissed open as Talon approached and closed swiftly behind him with another his as well as a clunk signaling that the door had shut. Crew members sat at their stations, managing reports or constantly checking ship systems among other things. The bridge of the Solar Spirit was rectangular with consoles running around the all along the wall except for the for which was where a large view port was located allowing the bridge crew to stare out into the void whenever they wished. Several real time holo-map tables sat in the center in the room to allow for coordination of troops planetside or ship to ship combat in space. Hanging back from the viewport was a chair, in the chair sat a man with fading platinum hair, a cup of coffee rested in one hand while a datapad in the other.

Talon walked up to the chair and saluted, "Lieutenant Colonel Talon Ryker reporting sir. Was there something you needed General?"

The chair spun around to face Talon, the man's Militia colored uniform was neat and pristine as if he had if clean and pressed mere minutes ago. Wrinkles dotted the man's face which contradicted his wrinkleless uniform and made the man seem like he was in his seventies when he was really in his early fifties. If one would look into the aging man's eyes, the everyday person would just see a old man with brown irises. But those with trained eyes could look past the physical appearance and see that even though this man is old, he carried a lot of experience and his share of burdens.

The man looked up from his datapad at the young soldier, "You did some good work down there soldier, even though you were ordered to stay on the Solar Spirit numerous times. With this data that you and Wraith Squad secured, we can now start implementing this new Spectre tech within our own ranks."

What the General was referencing was the IMC Spectres that were used against Militia Harvesters. Namely the Sniper Spectre which used a Longbow-DMR sniper or a Charge Rifle which were identified by their black with red trim paint job. What made these Spectre's even more terrifying is that they had the ability to use the Pilot's Cloaking ability. Another thing that had been given to the Spectre's could only be described as a 'upgrade' for the Spectres. Spectres under the control of the IMC now had the ability to rodeo Titans which was troublesome for Pilots everywhere. Another but less common one was the Suicide Spectres that had been created and was easily identified by their bright orange paint were interesting but not nearly as much as the Sniper Spectre.

"In light of your exploits on this mission, I am hereby promoting you to the rank of Colonel. With this new rank you will no longer have to participate in ground operations and will rather help coordinate the attack from the bridge here. You will be issued a new uniform when you turn in your gear except for whatever sidearm you wish to keep. Also, I will be assigning you your own personal guard to protect you. Understood?"  
"Yes bu-"

The General turned back toward the viewport and started to look over his datapad once again, "Good, go turn in your Pilot uniform and get a officer's. I expect you back here on the bridge at 1700 hours."

"General, with all due respect, I don't deserve this position. I have hardly any officer training and I do better with boots on the ground rather than up here. I request that I be demoted to Staff Sergeant and earn my way up the ranks properly."

The General turned slightly and eyed Talon, "Are you questioning my judgement?"

Talon took a quick look around the bridge, if he had to guess about three-quarters of the bridge crew had their eyes on the two of them. The young Pilot knew exactly what he was about to do, "Yes sir, I am."

The General set his coffee and datapad down before he stood up. The man eyed Talon for a minute before leaning in so his threatening voice was heard only by Talon, "It would be wise that you would not do so in the future Colonel. You are dismissed."

Talon sighed, "You've been like this ever since Johnny died, I don't need you to pro-"

"Not another word Colonel! You are to get your officer's uniform and report back here at 1700 hours. Am I clear?!" When Talon didn't respond immediately, the General shouted again, "Colonel Ryker, am I clear?!"

Talon clenched his teeth in anger before he said those four words he hated most of all, "Of course, General _Ryker_."

Without another word, Talon's father sat back in the chair and turned to face the viewport while Talon all but stomped out of the bridge. He continued on for a couple turns before he stopped to face the wall. Ever since the death of Talon's brother and General Andon Ryker's eldest son, the General had been doing everything he could to keep his remaining son off the field of battle. This prove more difficult than it should have been because that son wanted to fight the IMC for various reasons. In order to get Talon off the battlefield, Andon started to promote Talon numerous times. Once a soldier was promoted to a certain rank, they start to see less and less combat and more coordinating the attack from the safety of a ship. Despite being ordered to remain, Talon snuck off the ship each time Pilots were deployed by blending into different groups. This time, he managed to tag along with the famous Wraith Squad, Pilots who specialized in Covert Ops and were trained by none other than M-COR's famous Covert Operations leader, known only as Sarah.

Due to Talon's rapid promotion, the Pilot had little officer training. He could lead a small strike team of other Pilots into battle but above that, there wasn't much he knew. Unlike his father, Talon wasn't a tactician, he was a soldier meant to be put on the frontlines. His father's obsessive protective behavior had been a pain in Talon's backside for about a two and a half years now. He had tried requesting a transfer to a different Corps such as the Marauder Corps or M-COR. But for his transfer to be approved, he needed the commanding officer of Griffin Corps to approve it. His father had been in command of Griffin Corps for four years now making transfer impossible. He considered of going AWOL and hoping to come across another Militia fleet but he believed that would just make things worse.

Rage built up to a point in Talon where he needed an outlet or else he was going to go insane. The Pilot brought his arm back and punched the wall with as much force as he could muster. The hallway metal groaned and bent under the impact of the Pilot's fist. It took a little effort to remove his hand, when he did he brought the hand close to his ear and flexed it. He could barely hear the _whirring_ noise from inside his hand which was all the mechanical bits moving back and forth. He found the Spray-Skin on his knuckles had been scratched off from punching the metal wall.

"You really should treat those things with more care. The Doc worked hard to build those for you."

Talon turned toward the sound of the voice and gave an official salute, "Greetings Master Sergeant!"

The large chocolate skinned man let out a deep laugh before giving Talon his own salute, although not a serious as Talon's "You know, I should be the one saluting you first now."

Talon lowered his hand and chuckled, "Well, you did drill it into our skulls that we were suppose to salute you every time we addressed you back in basic. I guess old habits die hard. Was there something you needed?"

"Nah, just wanted to tell you that the Doc wants to do a check up on your limbs. Wanted me to send you his way if I saw you. Oh did you hear the news? We are heading to Kevan 4 for fresh troops, bunch of fresh recruits coming aboard and I have been given the privilege of breaking the new Pilots in. Even though we are just popping in for a day, I know what you're going to be doing."

Talon face flushed slightly, "S-shut up, I have a obligation to visit them whenever I go there."

"Sure, an _obligation_. Whatever you call it, you better cherish it. I hear we are going to put on a seven month deployment after that so be sure to have _fun_." The man of African descent gave a casual wave as he walked in the direction of the bridge.

The Pilot continued to stand there with flushed cheeks for a while before he started making his way toward one of the science labs. The labs were their usual pristine bright white color which all the labs were. Various tables piled with vials containing unknown substances, computers with complicated equations or lengthy words on the screen, and numerous electronics with unknown uses filled the room. Men and women in white lab coats were constantly moving around the lab, performing various tasks whether it be about something on the table in front of them or on their datapad. It wasn't that hard to find the person Talon was looking for, the man was always off in his own little corner, hunched over and working on some sort of gizmo that its uses were only known to him.

"Hey, Doctor Einhart, you wanted to see me?" Talon called out.

The elderly man stood up straight and looked for the source of the voice. A bright smile crossed his face when he saw Talon approaching, "Ah Talon, my boy. I trust you are doing well."

Doctor Einhart's thick German accent didn't interfere with his speech but every so often he would say a word from his native language and the fact the accent made him stand out more than most. Talon smiled in response but began to look around the lab, "Could be better but could be worse. Have you seen Jackie around here?"

Einhart sighed under his breath, "She's around but you have got to stop leaving her with me when you're sneaking out."

Talon let out a high pitch whistle which attracted almost every scientist's attention. A moment later Talon called out, "Jackie, come here girl."

The sound of claws scraping across the floor sounded throughout the room. A few scientists moved out of the way of a creature that was smaller than the tables it was running by. After about few moments of hearing the sound, a small black, white haired Jack Russell Terrier with a cybernetic front right leg came barrelling around the corner of tables, skidded across the smooth floor, slammed into a table, scraped across the ground as it attempted to gain traction again, and sprinted over to a crouching Talon awaiting his loyal companion.

Jackie, as the dog went by, flopped onto its back to allow Talon to start scratching its belly. Soon after he start, one of Jackie's hind legs started to shake rapidly letting Talon know she was in bliss. Once Talon sat down, Jackie rolled over and hopped into Talon's lap and laid down as the Pilot began to pet her.

"Well, who else was I supposed to leave her with? If she can't find me, she always goes to my father and that's how he learns that I snuck onto a transport. She likes you and so I thought, 'Einhart doesn't do that much, he can watch Jackie for me. I'll just leave her in his office as a surprise'." Talon replied innocently.

Einhart let out a drawn out sighed, "That _surprise_ was her tearing up two of my PhDs and relieving herself in the corner of my office. And having a dog running around the lab und distracting the other scientists isn't really productive."

"You could just have a Marvin clean up the mess in your office and everyone loves this little girl, I mean, her face _is_ the symbol of Griffin Corps. Besides, don't you have fifty-five other PhD's? About three of them are in fields that I can't even pronounce. "

"I had sixty-one in total but Jackie has torn seven of them up and chewed on another three." A beep sounded from Einhart's personal datapad, he took a look for a second before turning back to Talon, "The room I wanted is now ready, shall we?" Einhart gestured toward one of the lab's exits.

Talon picked up and carried Jackie in the belly-up position and fell in behind Einhart as the dog repeatedly licked Talon's chin. Multiple Militia soldiers and crewman scratched the dog's belly if they happened to pass by, giving Jackie brief stages of bliss about every minute. After a short elevator ride and another minute walk, the three of them walk into a modified operating room which walls and floors matched the labs. Talon deposited Jackie onto the ground who began to follow its owner closely behind.

The Pilot laid down on the bed in the center, as soon as he did, Scotty decided to join him, "Jackie, no. Down girl."

He was met with a low gruff from the dog, Talon pointed a finger toward the canine, "Don't sass me, down girl."

Jackie let out a low whine as she jumped down from the bed, her metal appendage making a slightly more noticeable sound than the rest of its limbs. The dog went off to one of the unoccupied corners, spun around a couple times before lying down with his owner still in her vision.

Einhart tapped a couple times on a nearby console before various mechanical arms started to descend from the ceiling, Jackielet out a low growl as they did. The arms descended around the table and circled around Talon a few times.

Talon looked over to Einhart who was standing next to him holding a syringe filled with a clear liquid, "Yes or nien to the sedative?"

"Nah, I've gotten to used to the pain mostly. Besides, I don't want to be loopy for an hour because I can't handle a moment of pain."

The Doctor nodded before placing the syringe onto a nearby trolley and heading back to console. With a couple more taps, the mechanical arms began to move closer to each of Talon's four limbs. Talon began taking deep breaths bracing himself for the pain that was about to come. Einhart looked over the console at Talon again for confirmation, the Pilot merely nodded before taking sharp intake of air.

With one final beep, all four of Talon's limbs were disconnected from at once. Talon let out a muffled scream of pain which lasted a couple of seconds before he returned to deep breaths. Jackie stood up and bark a couple times at the sounds of pain erupting from her owner, but slowly laid back down when the sounds subsided but kept her head raised in case anything else happened. The mechanical arms were carried off behind Talon to where Einhart was waiting for the them. The Doctor removed the cybernetic appendages from the grasp of the arms and began to open the limbs in various places checking the inner workings.

"Remarkable." Einhart commented after a few minutes of silence.

"What is it Doc?" Talon asked as he unsuccessfully tried to turn around to get a look due to an absence of limbs.

"Your limbs have been through various combat situations and locations for two and a half years and yet they have not needed repairs or modifications."

Talon let out a low chuckle, "Well, _you_ made them. I guess you just outdid yourself more than you thought."

The Pilot heard some objects moving behind him but didn't bother to try and get look, "These cybernetics are the jewel of my entire scientific career thus far, a lot of the tech in your limbs are experimental and yet everything has been running perfectly."

"I thought the Spectre program your crowning jewel?"

A grim look cross swept over Einhart's face that went unnoticed, however the sorrow in his voice was easily noticeable, "The Spectre program was . . . a mistake. I thought I was making them to take care of criminals and pirates. When I learned what the IMC was really doing with them . . .

Talon tried to quickly change the subject, "Well, I'm Glad your happy about the arms, so am I. I try to take good care of them. I mean the strength and speed boosts are nice so I check and clean them up every time I finish a mission. Trevor helps."

"Hmm . . . the cybernetics show no hint of wear and tear even after this long . . ." Einhart's voice dropped to a low mutter, "Perhaps I can try something a little more advanced next . . ."

"What was that Doc?" He asked as he tried to look around again.

"Nothing dear boy. Everything appears to be in perfect condition like it has the previous check ups. How is your body reacting to the cybernetics?" Einhart asked as he walked back into view.

Talon gave a shoulderless shrug, "The first couple weeks were the worst but now, feels like I have had these metal limbs all my life. I'm still stunned that you managed to make synthetic nerve endings that links with my nervous system giving me the ability to actually feel things with my hands, getting shot in the arm hurts though."

"As I said, these limbs are the crowning jewel in my career thus far." Einhart tapped a couple things on his datapad before looking back to Talon, "If you wouldn't mind, I would like to hold onto the left arm for awhile. There is something I might be able to do to improve the efficiency."

A scowl crossed Talon's face, "I only really need one arm now since my father has effectively taken me off the battlefield. He's even assigning me a _bodyguard_ to protect me, freaking obvious that he is just using that _guard_ as a way to keep tabs on me to make sure I don't sneak off."

Einhart nodded to himself as tapped a couple more things onto his datapad, "I should have part of what I need when we leave Kevan 4, I will be borrowing your arm a couple times to finish up what I have in mind but I have other things I need to deal with."

When Talon's right arm was shoved back into the socket, several whirring and clicking noises were emitted from the before the arm twitched slightly. After the twitch, Talon flexed the fingers of his reattached arm getting the feel for it again. The mechanical arms above Talon placed the two legs back into their respective positions resulting in similar actions of the arm. Jackie got to her feet when she saw Talon throw his legs off the bed and stood up.

Einhart shook up a spray can before grabbing Talon's wrist and spraying the substance onto his knuckles. The metal gray color of his knuckles slowly faded as the Spray-Skin covered his knuckles making it look like a normal hand once again. The Doctor looked suspiciously at Talon who merely looked away sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head out of embarrassment.

A strange sight awaited Talon when he finally bid farewell to Einhart and walked out into the hallway with Jackie right behind him. Trevor saluted him, "Colonel Ryker, I have been assigned to you as your personal guard. As per the General's orders, my main task is to maintain your well being. Such as preventing you from participating in any ground or aerial operations."

"You mean _only_ preventing me from participating in any ground or aerial operations, don't you?" Talon smirked.

Trevor dropped the salute, "Pretty much, yeah."

A loud sigh erupted from Talon as he brought his hand to his face out of annoyance. Without looking up, Talon said, "Scotch, the good stuff, two ice cubes, I'll meet you in the lounge once I get a uniform switch."

Trevor saluted once again, this time with a grin, "Right away sir, I'll secure the bar to make sure the area is safe."

Talon gave a half-assed salute in response, "Get going you douchebag."

()()()()

 **11:57 AM, Militia Medical Space Station: Sanctuary, In Orbit around Kevan 4**

The one armed Colonel was getting tired of all the pristine white walls and floors he had been seeing. He was tempted to find a bucket of paint and then go wild with it for as long as it would last. At least he managed to get Trevor off his back during his visit. Talon's officer uniform matched his father's in every way except for the ranking symbol of Colonel that had been stitched onto his right shoulder sleeve. Right below the symbol was the patch with the words Griffin Corps below a picture of Jackie's face with her tongue hanging out. His left sleeve had been folded up multiple times and was kept folded via a pin. A B3 Wingman rested in its holster on Talon's right leg but if a fight broke out, he was in trouble when he needed to reload.

Talon had followed directions around about fifty corners and down an elevator like he had many times before. After exiting the elevator, the ex-Pilot walked up to a reception desk for the area. Men in lab coats and women in nurse outfits moved across his field of vision as he walked up to the large donut type desk. Various bit of chatter could be heard as well as the groaning of patients in pain. A nurse shot up from behind the desk as Talon approached, having finished whatever she was doing under the desk.

The nurse took notice of him when he placed a hand on the desk. A smile flashed across her face, "How may I help you sir?"

"I'm here to visit Yurika Anderson." Talon responded as he began to drum his fingers on the desk.

"Name?" The nurse as she picked up a nearby datapad.

"Talon Ryker."

She scrolled through the datapad before slowly running her finger down the datapad, probably looking through a list of names. After a few moments passed, the nurse set down the datapad, "You're all clear. Being a hospital, I'm gonna need you to surrender your firearm for the duration of the visit."

Talon removed the sidearm from its holster and flipped on its safety before handing over to the nurse who almost fell to the floor when she took ahold of the firearm. It took a bit of effort for her to move the pistol to somewhere below the desk before she got back to work on whatever she was doing.

The Pilot once again followed the route he had taken many times before. It was another minute before he came to the room he was going to. He took a peek into the door window to see what exactly was going on inside the room. A petite girl with long blonde hair sat in a hospital bed reading a book. Not something from a datapad but honest to god, hardback book. Books with hard or even paperbacks were rare these days but some prefer the feeling of a book in their hands. Her blue eyes matched the color of the sea as seen from space on the planet below, most people would guess the girl's age to be around fifthteen or sixteen when in reality she nineteen years old. The girl's skin color was a shade of brown, giving the impression she tanned regularly when it was her natural skin color.

After a deep breath, the door hissed open and Talon stepped into the room. The girl had yet to notice Talon when he walked in or when he sat down on a stool next to the bed. Talon had been in this situation many times before, Yurika had an extreme case of tunnel vision, being able to shut out almost anything and focus on reading or whatever she may have been doing at the time. He pulled out his datapad and started to play a game on it, waiting for Yurika to find a stopping place or finish the book, looking at the amount of pages she still had to go through, he hoped she would find a good stopping point soon.

A half an hour passed with the only sounds in the room coming from the machines hooked up to Yurika, the pages turning on her book, or the various sounds emanating from Talon's game. Talon shut off the app when he finally heard the book smack close and Yurika let out a satisfied sigh. She blinked a couple times and looked around the room, her gaze swept for Talon for a brief second before snapping back to him.

Yurika looked shocked, "Talon?!"

After a quick look back to his datapad, Talon smiled, "Thirty-three minutes this time, almost a new record."

"Y-you weren't here for a half an hour!" She exclaimed in disbelief, "What page was I on when you walked in?"

Talon thought for a second before replying, "Page fifty-two I believe."

Yurika quickly opened the book to where her bookmark was, only to slowly shut it again with a flushed face. Talon motioned for her to say it, Yurika sighed before responding, "Two twenty-five . . . You could have tried to get my attention you know."

"But you looked like you were enjoying yourself."

"You dummy, I prefer spending time with you than reading a book."

Talon's face turned tomato red , "Don't say things l-like that out of the blue!"

Yurika giggled to Talon's response as she quickly turned the tables, she reached and grabbed his only hand and held it between hers, "Even though this hand is made of metal, it brings me warmth."

The embarrassed Pilot looked away, "You can thank Einhart of his ingenuity, he is currently working on the other arm in case your wondering."

She giggled again, "I don't mean a physical warmth, it's a type of warmth that you feel only in your heart. A special type of warmth."

Talon slowly looked back to the girl in the bed, Yurika had been his friend since he was seven years old. They had both grown up together on a recently colonized planet at the time called Apep. He and his brother always watched over Yurika as two older brothers, protecting her from bullies, stray animals and various other things she was afraid of. But the moments Yurika actually spent outside were few and far between due to a disease she was born with at birth making her stay indoors quite often since she couldn't go outside very often. Osteogenesis Imperfecta, also known as Brittle Bone Disease could be traced back in her family to a few known family members however the disease seemed to only has a relatively low chance of appearing.

How the two Ryker brothers met the girl was the two brothers were doing batting practice when the ball sailed through the window of the Anderson household. The two boys tried to sneak away but their father caught them and forced them to confess to the crime. The two parents were understanding and forgave the two boys. The mother lead them up to a room and opened the door to reveal a pale skinned girl lying in her bed with the baseball in her hands. The baseball had sailed through her window and landed directly in her lap.

From that point on, the two boys would visit the sick girl whenever they could and told her stories about the outside world. They would smuggle things into room such as bugs, various types of plants and even a kitten at one point. But they were usually always found out by Yurika's mother who would them promptly chased them out of the house only to let them back in a couple days later. She let her daughter keep the kitten however when the boys left it there. When the war broke out with the IMC, the entire colony on Apep was displaced, forcing them all to evacuate the city. Yurika's father was called into action in the fight, it was later learned that her father had fought in the Titan Wars many years before. When he returned to the fighting, he was given back his old rank. General Anderson later succumbed to some wounds he received in battle a month before the battle of Demeter. The Militia's First Fleet, which contained the Militia's famous M-COR and G-COR was then taken over the infamous hacker Cheng "Bish" Lorck and the Stealth Operative Sarah. Due to Yurika being the late General's daughter, she was moved to one of the finest medical facilities the Militia had stolen from the IMC to date.

After a raid on one of the many IMC Spectre construction facilities, Andon Ryker was promoted to General himself and was given control of the Militia's Second Fleet which Griffin Corps was folded into along with a bunch of other fledgling Corps that had just left basic training. The Solar Spirit was made the flagship of Second Fleet when it was captured, beforehand, the flagship was a Brick Ship much like First Fleet's Red Eye.

Yurika began tracing Talon's palm with her finger causing the battle hardened Pilot to tense up, "Heh, you're always so cute when you tense up like that."

Talon ripped his hand away, "Stop teasing me alright. It was funny when I was a child but now . . . just don't do it."

Yurika scooted over on her on her and patted a now empty next to her, "All right, you can crawl in now."

"What are you saying you idiot?!" Talon exclaimed.

Yurika looked dejected, "Aaahhh, come on. You use to come and over and crawl into my bed whenever there was a storm."

"That's because I thought you might be scared."

"I happen to actually like thunder and lightning unlike a certain someone." She eyed Talon with a smirk on her face.

"S-shut up already, I'll do it." Talon responded ashamed as he stood up and moved closer to the bed.

"Yay!" She clapped as she began to pull back the covers on his side.

"I'm only doing this because you asked, got it?"

" _Oh, I do adore tsundere boys."_ She thought. Once he was settled in the bed, she threw the blanket back over which settled just below his chest.

Yurika threw arms around his neck and pulled herself closer, after a brief silence she broke the silence, "This brings me back."

Talon couldn't help but nod in response, "Yeah, we were so young back then and everything was so peaceful. Are you sure I can do this?"

"It's fine, the nurses don't usually come in here unless I request something or there is an emergency. I see you have a neat officer uniform instead of that dirty Pilot uniform you used to wear whenever you visited, what's the special occasion?"

"My father has effectively taken me off the field of battle, he even assigned Trevor to me as a personal guard to prevent me from sneaking off. He could have assigned anyone but he chose Trevor, probably because he feels like he owes Trevor for saving me back on Demeter, so he is basically taking him off the battlefield as well."

Yurika hugged Talon a little tighter, "Now I don't have to worry as much when you get deployed, knowing that you won't be fighting on the ground anymore."

"That's the thing, I don't want to be sheltered, I don't want special treatment. I want to be down there, boots on the ground with everyone else. I have no training on how to lead a group of more than ten guys at most, even if I did, I know my father wouldn't listen to what I had to say. How am I supposed to fulfill my promise to you if I can't do anything?"

"I don't care about that promise anymore. I just want you to be safe, I want you to be there with me after this is all over. You're the last thing I have, all of my family and friends are dead, except for you. I know I may be a bit clingy but that's because I . . . I do love you, Talon."

Talon leaned over on his side and wrapped his only arm around Yurika's back and pulled her closer, "I-I know. You've told me everytime I visit you."

Yurika buried her head in his chest, "Then why don't you ever give me a real answer? You always just feign ignorance or change the subject whenever I tell you."

After years of holding it in, Talon finally gave in to Yurika's question, "You know that place I snuck you out to, that place down by the river?"

"Back on Apep, you mean the place where the trees bloomed like sakura trees?"

"Yeah, in the spring, the river would be full of flower petals, just a river of pink for miles. Go the right few days and you can be there while all the petals are falling of the tree, gives the impression of pink snow. I decided a long time ago I was going to confess to you in the middle of the falling petals. That's why the promise of me taking back Apep is so important to me, if I want to confess to you then I have to take back our home."

Yurika remained silent for a couple of minutes, stunned by what Talon had just told her. All these years she had thought that Talon had loved another . . . or he was gay. But now that she had heard the reason why he couldn't confess, she couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

After what seemed like a small eternity to Talon, Yurika finally broke the silence, "Well, then take back our home already. I may be patient but even I have my limits."

Talon and Yurika cracked up laughing. The two of them continued to lay there discussing many things such as the battles Talon had been in since his last visit, the fights he got in with Trevor and Andon, how Jackie and Doctor Einhart was doing, and the new question of what the two of them were going to do together once the fight with the IMC was over. They talked for hours non-stop, not a second of silence ever came between them. The only difference now from all the pastimes Talon had visited was that Yurika was latched onto him. Talon would never admit but he did enjoy the time when he was close to her. Just because he couldn't confess didn't mean they couldn't have some personal contact.

Five hours into Talon's visit, the two of them started to hear a commotion out in the hall. After about a minute of commotion, the door to Yurika's door hissed open and Trevor rushed into the room caked in sweat. A nurse was hot on his heels but was quickly called away, something was going on causing people to be running from place to place.

Talon mocked Trevor as he pulled up the covers further as if he was naked, "Oh my Trevor, you interrupted something important, could you come back later?"

"They took Viniea."

Talon shot up an eyebrow, "Come again?"

Trevor sucked in a couple more breaths of air before he continued, "A large IMC force consisting of Spectres _and_ lots of _human_ ground forces just overwhelmed our defenses all over Viniea and now it's under their control."

Talon shot up from the bed, eyes wide, "Viniea! That's a single Jump from here!"

The sweating Pilot nodded, "All of Second Fleet is being mobilized now, you need to get back to the Solar Spirit now."

The one armed Pilot began to get out of the hospital bed when he was stopped by a hand on his arm. He turned to see Yurika with a look of worry and terror across her face. Talon wanted to stay with her, but there had to be something he could do to stop the IMC. He leaned over a gave a kiss to Yurika which lasted a couple seconds.

"I will come back, I promise you." Those were Talon's final words to Yurika as he leaped off the bed and started running after Trevor.

()()()()

 **5:07 PM, Solar Spirit Bridge**

The door to the bridge barely had any time to open before Talon rushed through with Trevor hot on his heels. The fly back to the Solar Spirit was hectic to say the least, almost all personnel had been planetside when the word of the attack came through. Everyone was moving quickly just to be back to their ships before the IMC decided to show up at their front door. Communications were a mess with everyone scrambling to get somewhere. Bridge personnel were running back and forth across the room, leaving to do one of many tasks off the Bridge or sitting in their seats at their consoles, reporting on situations throughout the ship.

Andon was up from his chair, shouting orders at some of the crewmen or requesting an update on different situations. Talon and Trevor came to a halt a couple feet away from the General, "Colonel Ryker and Sergeant First Class Hopkins reporting, sir."

Talon's father swiveled around to them and without missing a beat, and started issuing orders, "Hopkins, get back down to the hanger. We need to know how many people we got coming in, comms are flooded so I can't get a clear enough situation on what's going on in the hanger. Report what's going on via your datapad."

Trevor gave another salute before disappearing back through the door the two of them came through. Andon turned to Talon once the other Pilot was gone, "Colonel Ryker, you are to remain here. That is all."

"General, the-"

"That is all!" Andon shouted before Talon could finish.

Talon, after the few past years, finally snapped. He grabbed his father by the collar and lifted him into the air with a single mechanical arm and screamed, "I have fuckin had it, dad! I am a goddamn soldier, not some fragile doll to be kept hidden away! Yes, I am the only family you have left-"

"Colonel Ryker, put me down this instant!"

The Pilot shook his arm, jolesting Andon a bit, "Shut up! I am done listening you! I am sick and tired of getting special treatment. You're not my father, you're just a god damn dictator!"

The whole Bridge was silent, the only sounds coming from the various consoles around the room and the Solar Spirit's VI broadcasting the occasional message. Several Bridge personnel had drawn their weapons when Talon had picked up Andon and currently still had them trained on the one armed Pilot. No one dared moved as to not accidently have a firearm discharge.

Andon looked down at his son, his eyes full of rage but his voice calm, "Colonel Ryker, you are to put me down. You will then be escorted to the Brig and held there until further notice.

The armed personnel took a step toward Talon, his grip tightened on his father's collar. He wished that he had grabbed his neck, because he would have crushed Andon's windpipe right about now. He could easily slam his head into the metal floor, most likely splitting it open.

A loud beeping noise came from a nearby terminal, the crew member stationed there turned to look at why the noise had started. The crew member's eyes went wide, "Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck! Over a hundred IMC ships just Jumped into Kevan 4's orbit and are quickly moving into weapon's range!"

Everyone on the Bridge looked out the large viewport, a large cluster of blue and white ships were slowly making their way toward them. There was no way that the IMC could have that many ships, after the Battle of Demeter, the IMC lost the only place their ships could Jump in from the inner colonies. Space was full of black holes, planets, asteroid belts and various other dangers, most Jumps were done through safe Jump Lanes, only smugglers dared used the uncharted routes. There was no way . . . unless the IMC had found another safe Jump route and established a base where the Jump point was. Any other day, Second Fleet could have stood up against this attack until First Fleet showed up but with their pants caught down between their legs, it was going to be a one sided slaughter.

"Get us out of here."

Talon looked back up to his father, Andon's gaze was stuck on the rapidly approaching ships, "We can't abandon everyone here!"

The General's voice remained calm and steady, "Signal to the other ships to Jump to safety as soon as they can."

"What about all the people still plantside or in the medical station?!" Talon asked, his grip began to loosen on his father's collar.

"Helmsman, close all hangar bay doors and plot a course to the nearest safe system. Begin Jump on my command."

Talon sank to his knees as he let his father go, "Please . . . I don't want to leave her. I can't! Please, let me at least get her. I promised her. She's all I have."

The helmsman shouted back to Andon, telling him everything was ready to go. Andon looked down at Talon and for once in a blue moon, he could see regret in his father's eyes, "I'm sorry Talon. There's no other choice."

"Begin Jump procedure."

Talon stared blankly into space as his father moved away from him. He had just lost Yurika, the one person he loved, and he never got the chance to say it. The IMC would most likely destroy everything, the space station as well. There was no way for him to quickly get her on board, and if they did somehow managed to get her on board, it would most likely be too late to flee.

Flashes coming from the IMC ships indicated that they had just started firing their ship-to-ship weapons. The ship began to rock as its shields began to take the initial volley of fire. The helmsman began to rapidly press various buttons on his console, "Jump coordinates are now locked in. Jump core almost at hundred percent charge. Jumping in three . . ."

The familiar white on the edges of Talon's eyes started to appear, "Two . . ." A blue orb once appeared in the center of his vision. Images of Yurika flashed across his vision, not as a side effect of the Jump but from his own subconscious.

"O-"

The ship shook violently as a massive explosion sent everyone who was standing to their backs. The blue orb and white lights on the edge of his vision began to shift and change unnaturally. Talon's head started to pound as if he was developing a bad migraine, and the fluctuating lights in his vision made it all the worse. Metal began to to creak and groan as several more explosions shook the ship.

"We took a direct hit to our Jump core!"

"Well shut it down!" Talon heard Andon shout off to his left. Was Talon the only one being affected by the lights in his vision or did he just have a worse case?

"We can't! Our systems are going haywire! It appears that the Jump core is still charging at an exponential rate and it's nearing three thousand percent charge!"

Andon once again screamed at the top of his lungs, instead of anger this time it was fear, "Three thousand?! That shouldn't be possible! Shut it down! Shut everything down! If that go goes off, Second Fleet will be wi-"

With one final bright flash of white light that made the sun seem like a small candle flame, everything then went black.

()()()()

 **Two and a half years ago . . .**

 **Demeter**

 **Seven minutes after Reactor Core Overload . . .**

Talon felt like he was in a sauna when he awoke. His memory will a bit fuzzy but the details started coming back to him after a couple of seconds. James Mcallen had to manually overload the reactor core on Demeter, setting off a huge chain reaction that spread across the entire planet. After M-COR couldn't overload the reactor as planned, they went with the more direct method that lead to the death of almost everyone planetside. While M-COR had lead the assault on the main reactor core, G-COR was given the task of covering their flank by attacking various IMC military outposts. The attack was going well, the outposts were more lightly defended than anticipated, most of the soldiers stationed there had been moved to defend the reactor core.

But when Mcallen said he was going to have to overload the core himself, Andon who was a Colonel himself at the time, started sending down as many dropships down as he could get ahold of and started pulling G-COR troops out as quickly as possible. Thanks to Andon, only forty percent of G-COR was caught in the resulting blast instead of seventy percent that had been deployed on the planet at the time. However, Talon and Johnny were part of the forty percent that wasn't able to make it off the planet before the chain reaction went off. While their group of soldiers had managed to make it onto a transport, the chain reactions went off before they were able to make orbit. It was the dropship that Talon was in that saved his life, while they weren't caught in the explosion, the concussive force alone from the explosion was strong enough to knock it out of the sky.

After a quick look the smoking insides of the dropship that once held eight evacuees and two pilots, Talon found himself to be the only one moving. When the dropship crashed, Talon had been flung to the front end of the craft. His hand reached out to find a solid handhold to help him up. He happened to push the pilot's seat next to him causing the chair to swivel toward him. A dead body fell across his legs, the co-pilot's body sat laying face up, glass shards from the windscreen stood upright in the dead crewman's upper body from the head to the stomach. Talon quickly pushed the body off, needles of pain shot through his right arm. After reaching behind him, he managed yank something sharp that was wedged in his shoulder. A piece of glass with his fresh blood had sliced into him when the ship crashed.

With another quick look behind him, he learned that the front end of the craft had dived nose first into some concrete structure. While the co-pilot had been impleaded by glass, the main pilot had multiple rebar rods sticking in all over his body from the concrete. A loud groan originated from somewhere down where the drop ramp was. Talon saw a figure trying to prop himself up against the side of the craft. It was a few moments after that when Talon's helmet HUD reactivated after the crash forced the helmet to do a reboot. Talon started to move quickly toward the figure when his HUD identified the figure as Johnny Ryker.

Talon limped and fell over next to the figure with a loud grunt, "Jo- Johnny, you alright man?"

Johnny slowly turned his head toward him. Talon became tense when he saw his brother's helmet with a large gash in it rendering the HUD destroyed. As Talon tried to remove his helmet, he felt something grasp his wrist tightly. Johnny coughed violently and wheeze before he spoke, "N-no. Don't take off your helmet. There i-is radiation e-everywhere."

"What about you! Your rebreather is useless with a hole in your helmet! Just stay still and conserve your strength while I try to find another helmet" Talon shouted.

Johnny wheezed for a couple more seconds before speaking, "I'm already a d-dead man. Us Pilots are res-sistant to radiation but with this amount and no r-rebreather, you might as well just sign your death contract."

Talon crawled around to the six unmoving bodies, checking their helmets. Five of them were Grunts who had their helmets and rebreathers broken one way or another while sixth one was another Pilot. Talon started to have hope when he turned the body over to remove the helmet only to find the reinforced glass that made up the HUD had been shattered, fragments of the glass sat impaled in the Pilot's skull.

"T-Talon, come over here. I haven't got much time left."

The Pilot reluctantly crawled back over to his dying brother. Talon deactivated his HUD so Johnny could see through the helmet to his face. The older brother saw tears streaming down his younger brother's face. Johnny swung his arm and placed it on Talon's shoulder before shaking him slightly.

Through the crack in his helmet, Talon could see a faint smile, "D-do me a couple small favors for me, little bro. Take care of dad, I'm not sure how he'll react to my death but you two are the only family you both have left."

Talon nodded, Johnny wheezed a couple more times before continuing, "Take care of Yurika as well. With m-me gone, you're her only friend left. Do me additional favor and name one of you guy's kids after me."

Even the current situation at hand, Talon couldn't help but get a slight tinge of red across his face, "Shut up you idiot. Be serious here, just take my helmet, we're about the same size."

Johnny squeezed his shoulder tightly, "One last thing, promise me that you w-will survive this god damn war."

Talon didn't know what to say, his brother was dying right in front of him and he couldn't do anything to save him. He knew that even if he was to give his helmet to his brother, he would just be killing himself as well. All he could do was comfort his brother now as he passed on.

"Johnny, I p-"

His brother's hand slid off his shoulder and fell silently to the ground. Johnny's head leaned slightly to the side as one final breath escape the now deceased body. Talon didn't know how to react, in the blink of an eye, his brother was no longer with him. All that was left behind was a irradiated corpse. The last survivor of the crash just remained silent for awhile, taking in the fact that someone he had known all his life would no longer be with him.

Finally, Talon placed his hand on his brother's head, "I'll take care of dad, I'll marry Yurika, and I swear on my life that I'll end this fucking war at any cost."

The determined Pilot reached down and ripped off the dog tags that belonged to his brother. He then went around the crashed ship and removed the rest of the dog tags and deposited them in a pouch that once contained a clip of ammunition for his G2A4 that now sat to the side, bent in half. Talon walked to the back of the and tried opening the ramp but nothing happened as he pulled down the lever several times.

The side window to the Crow dropship laid shattered as well and with a little effort of pushing debris out of the way, Talon managed to make a big enough crawlspace for him to fit through. But before he left, he hobbled back over to his brother and removed the weapon in his holster, his B3 Wingman.

Talon didn't have to cover his eyes from the sunlight as emerged at the surface as his helmet dimmed the light for him. The land around him that once held many building now laid in utter destruction. A select few building managed to survive the concussive force from the explosion while most building now lay flat save for the few fragments that still stood. Now that he was out in the sun, the microwave feeling he had before upgraded to a sauna within a oven. However, with the various implants in his body, Talon would be able to survive the radiation filled area, for a limited amount of time.

The Militia Pilot began to limp through the area, looking for any sort of transport whether it be military or not. It was a strange feeling to him, not that long ago, this entire area had over several thousand fighting men and women duking it out with the opposing faction. But now, most of them had been turned ash or buried by the ashes of others. Talon could make out the burnt wreckage of a few Titans, but with the color burnt off, it was impossible to tell which side it had fought for.

Talon knew he had to hurry, no doubt the Militia fleet was preparing to leave the system. And if he didn't make it back before they did, he was going to have to take his chances with the IMC or hope whatever ship he found could make Jumps to different systems. After what seemed five minutes of looking, Talon could make out what looked like a relatively undamaged IMC Goblin dropship. Sprint hobbling over to the thing, Talon raised his weapon as he approached the craft.

When he heard what sounded like crying, Talon activated his Cloak on a whim and found it to still be working. The ramp was currently lowered which allowed Talon to lean around the corner and peer into the ship with his weapon raised. An IMC Pilot with his side to Talon sat crying with another IMC Pilot across his lap, rocking back and forth humming some tune unknown. From where he was, he could make out the deceased IMC Pilot's figure to be a female's while the one holding her was a male's. Talon stepped closer silently and brought his hand cannon up to look down the sights at the Pilot's head.

Right before he pulled the trigger, the Pilot spoke, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I couldn't protect you. I couldn't protect her, mom. I promised her that she would she home again but . . . God damn it, take me! I'll do anything, just don't take her from me! Please!"

The Cloak finally wore off but the IMC Pilot had yet to notice Talon standing behind him with the revolver still pointed at his head. It was clear that the man had just lost someone close to him, but whether it was his girlfriend, wife, or sister was unknown to him. Whoever he may have lost, he was in the same boat as Talon in more ways than one. Talon wasn't familiar with the systems of a Goblin Dropship, while they may be somewhat familiar to the Militia's Crow, he didn't know which buttons did what and he was pretty sure there wasn't a manual anywhere nearby. Right now, his only option was to get this Pilot in front of him to help him, either through force or peacefully if at all possible.

Talon cleared his throat, causing the IMC Pilot to wheel around toward him. The Pilot was shocked when he realized that he was staring down the barrel of a high-powered pistol. Not wanting a bullet to be lodged in his brain, the IMC Pilot remained perfectly still.

The Militia Pilot spoke calmly, "Who was she?"

Talon's prisoner was a bit confused by the question at first, but he didn't seem happy when he realized what he was asking, "What's it to you?"

Talon brought back the hammer on the B3 Wingman which gave a loud, definitive _click_ , "Let me remind you that _you_ are the one with a gun pointed at him. Answer the question."

"She was my sister, happy?" The IMC Pilot's irritated tone hadn't left, but Talon found it bearable.

"How did she go? One of us get her?" When Talon said 'us', what he meant was Militia.

The IMC Pilot shook his head, Talon tilted his head confused, he could see what looked like a bullet wound on the female, "Was she impaled by something in the blast?"

Again, he shook his head. Talon was honestly curious now, he couldn't think of any other reason why she might have something like a gunshot wound, "Then how . . . if you don't mind me asking."

Talon could hear the IMC Pilot take a deep breath before answering, "Damn IMC officer shot her."

The two of them remained silent for a minute, it took some time for Talon to process what the IMC Pilot had told him. It could have been a trick to catch him off guard but that didn't seem likely. Before Talon could ask anything else, the IMC Pilot continued, "My sister was a combat medic. She always wanted to be a medic, she wanted to save people regardless of who they were. But that's what got her shot. After my team cleared out a building, there were two injured Militia Grunts bleeding out. Without a second thought, she ran over and started to help them. Not long after our commanding officer came into the room and saw her helping the two Grunts. Long story short, he ordered her to shoot the two Grunts. She refused so . . . he shot her . . . and I shot him. The other Pilots were about to take me under arrest but then we got the word that the core was going to overload soon, they all bugged out. I picked up my sister, barely made it to a transport before it took off. Luckily, we were the only ones who made it. The explosion knocked us out of the sky but the ship is relatively intact. . . She bleed out just a few minutes ago."

"That's . . . quite a story." Talon had lowered his weapon and holstered it. He chuckled, "Guess we both lost family today."

"How did they die?"

"In a way, you could say a Militia officer did it. . . but it was a little more indirect."

The two Pilots remained silent for another minute before the IMC Pilot spoke up, "Fuck this war."

"Amen to that, brother."

The IMC Pilot carefully moved his sister's body off of him and stood up to face the person that was once his enemy and pushed his hand toward him, "Specialist Hopkins."

Talon took the hand in a firm handshake, "Sergeant Ryker."

Hopkins nodded his head, "Well, Sergeant, shall we get off this radiation filled rock?"

"You know how to fly one of these thing Specialist?" Talon inquired.

Hopkins scoffed at him, "I'm a better flyer than I am a soldier."

Talon smirked, "So you're a better pilot than you are a Pilot?"

A loud sigh came from Hopkins as he closed the ramp and started walking up to the front of the dropship, "I'm going to start hating you again real soon."

Talon smiled as he followed closely behind his new friend, "I'm going to enjoy our friendship, however brief it may be."

The two Pilot removed the two dead bodies who were once the operators of dropship that had died on impact. They placed the two bodies in the back next to Hopkin's sister before they each took a seat at the front of the ship.

As Hopkins began pressing various buttons and flipping a couple switches, the Goblin sputtered to life. Talon merely turned to face Hopkins and stared at him until the IMC Pilot turned to look at him. In a monotone voice, Talon said, "I have no fucking clue how to get this thing off the ground."

Hopkins brought his hand to his helmet and began to rub the visor as if he was rubbing his eyes. The IMC Pilot leaned over Talon and pressed a couple more buttons, "Hmm, gonna have to fly this thing manually into orbit. Jump core is warming up but it won't be ready for quite a while. If we leave now, it will be ready right when we break orbit. Talk about inconvenience."

Another minute by before the Goblin lurched off the ground before steadying. After Hopkins checked the systems again, he took ahold of the controls and started flying up at a forty-five degree angle. It about another five minutes before the dropship made it through the atmosphere. Although what was waiting for them off the planet didn't make Talon really happy.

Several IMC ships were waiting in orbit. Phantom fighters could be seen flying all over the area, a chill went up Talon's spine when several fighters diverted from a squadron and started moving closer to him. As they were approaching, Talon's hope rose slightly when his helmet could still pick up Militia signals but they were far out, if he wanted to get there in one piece, he would need to plot a Jump there but he wasn't the one flying the ship.

Talon turned his head to face Hopkins who was already staring back at him. The IMC Pilot eyed the sidearm that rested in its holster on Talon's leg. A silence hung between them for a couple moments, but they both knew what was about to happen.

However, before any of them could act, a transmission came through the console of the dropship, "Unidentified Goblin, state your name and rank or we will fire."

The Phantoms surrounded the dropship, an alarm started ringing letting the two of them know that the fighters had a lock on them. Hopkins pressed a button next to the flight controls, "This is Specialist Trevor Hopkins, requesting permission to land anywhere."

A minute passed before the voice through the speaker came back, "Specialist Hopkins, you are to land at the IMS New Hope and surrender yourself to security personnel. You are under arrest for the murder of an IMC officer, will you comply?"

"Well shit, looks like we're both going to be sharing a cell."

Trevor said nothing as his grip on the controls tightened. If Talon wanted to make it home, he needed Trevor on his side, "Hey dude listen, my father is a high ranking officer. If we make a Jump now, we might be able to catch up with the Militia fleet. I promise you that I will have them cut you a break . . . and I will make sure your sister has a proper burial."

At the mention of his sister, Trevor turned to look at Talon. The Militia Pilot felt kind of bad, he was playing off of Trevor's weakness. The IMC would probably give his sister a proper burial but Talon managed to sweeten the deal by offering him a possible way to escape custody.

"Does the Militia really want freedom?"

Talon was surprised by the abrupt question. It took him a second before he could recover, "The Militia is made up of pirates, mercenaries, criminals, and plenty other unsavory folk . . . but we are united, to liberate the Frontier. Yes, we want freedom."

Trevor took a deep breath before he pressed another button, "Yes, I will comply."

Talon was shocked but Trevor turned to face him right after, "Plot the Jump coordinates."

Without a second thought, Talon began to punch in the coordinates of where he was picking up Militia frequencies. Talon gave the thumbs when everything was ready. Trevor immediately began to maneuver around their Phantom escort and fly as fast as the ship could go, they didn't want to Jump in case a stray Phantom or another Goblin happened to fly in front of them as they made the Jump, so they needed to at least get clear of the IMC fleet.

They had to have had at least five Phantoms on their tail, shooting them with a variety of weapons. And yet, Trevor never lost his cool. The IMC Pilot nimbly avoided a majority of the incoming fire, only being clipped by a bullet every now and then that was deflected by the weakening shield. To prevent the other larger ships from firing on them, Trevor flew close to an IMC ship leaving the Phantoms as the only option of attacking unless they wanted the high risk of friendly fire.

Despite being slower and less nimble than the Phantoms, Trevor managed to keep the enemy pilots guessing. His flight pattern was irregular making turns and pivots in all different direction. Fighter craft usually needed to lead their target in order to hit them but without being a able to lead, all they could do was spray and pray. Trevor managed to somehow avoid the lock-on missiles by flying close to an IMC ship, messing up the heat targeting system and causing it to lock on to the warmer and larger ship. Bullets were a different story however, while Trevor managed to avoid most of it, the constant fire kept whittling down their shields at a quick enough rate so the shields couldn't regenerate.

The chase continued on for a couple of minutes as Trevor tried to get them clear of the fleet and out to open space. Problem was, as soon as they cleared the fleet, the IMC didn't have to worry about friendly fire anymore. For them to survive, they would need to Jump as soon as they clear fleet and survive the fire coming from the pursuing the Phantoms.

The Goblin rocked when a Phantom managed to get in a successful missile strike, bringing their shield's down to nail biting levels. Trevor punched a couple more buttons before shouting, "Let's hope your friends ask questions first, and blow shit up later!"

Talon watched the console in front of him as the Jump core charge up, "Jump Coordinates locked in! Jump in three . . . two . . . one, mark!"

Once the blinding light subsided, they both could see a single Militia Brick ship positioned not too far away from them. The words 'Lunar Ray' were printed in bold on the side of the ship. Immediately as they came out of warp, all sorts of alarms started going off letting the two of them that they were being targeted.

Talon quickly opened communications, "Lunar Ray, power down your weapons! Your targeting a friendly!"

A moment later, Talon heard a voice come back through, "State your full name, rank, and serial number for confirmation."

"Talon James Ryker, Sergeant, 18-275-296."

A minute passed, Talon just leaned back in his seat but Trevor still had his hands gripped tightly on the flight controls. Talon began to take off his helmet when he remembered that the Goblin was probably still filled with radiation. Instead, he pulled a clump of dog tags out of one of his ammo pouches and removed a single tag from the clump before he shoved the rest away. Talon wiped the dust that had been covering it when he had removed it. His brother's name and serial number had been engraved onto the small piece of metal, now it was one of the few things he had left of his brother.

A voice came through the speaker again after a couple minutes had passed, "You may land in hangar B, a security team will me-"

Some shouting and the sounds of a struggle came through the communications, the two Pilots looked at eachother wondering what was happening. A smile broke out across Talon's face when a voice came through, "-lon! -s that yo-"

Talon responded, "Yes Colonel Ryker, still requesting permission to land."

Andon breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank god. I thought I had lost you, is Johnny there with you?"

Talon hesitated for moment, "Hey dad . . . we need to talk."

"Oh . . . is he alright?"

Talon sighed before continuing, "We are enroute to hangar B, our ship is contaminated with radiation. Requesting decontamination teams to meet us."

The two Pilots heard the mic ripped away and the voice of the first man came back through, "Roger that, and Sergeant, uh, you said 'us'. Is there another person with you?"

Talon looked at Trevor for a second, "Yes . . . an IMC Pilot."

"Uh . . . can you say that again, it sounded like you said an IMC Pilot."

"That is correct, security teams are not to shoot him. Without him, I would have never made it off planet. There are extenuating circumstances but this man is to be treated as a friendly. Understood?"

"Uuuhhh . . . yeah . . . roger that. I'll . . . inform the security team. Hangar B, decontamination teams are ready to scrub."

Once the communications closed, Talon looked toward Trevor, "Well, I hope that's enough."

"Think I can join the Militia?"

"Maybe, could always use another Pilot. You will certainly be placed in the brig, but I'll talk to my father and get you a better room at least. You got me off that planet and past the IMC fleet, that will mean something to him." Talon patted Trevor on the shoulder before directing him to hanger B.

As they entered the hangar, the two of them could see several armed Titans and about twenty Pilots accompanied with at least a dozen Grunt squads, all of their weapons pointed at them. Talon sheepishly looked toward Trevor, "That's one heavily armed security team."

Trevor set down the ship with the ramp hatch toward the security. Talon went in front of Trevor, the reasoning for that was pretty easy to figure out. Once they were by the ramp, Talon glanced once more back to Trevor who gave him a nod. Talon lowered the ramp, all the weapons were trained on the two of them. Even though they were his friends, he still felt a little chill go up his spine.

A Atlas Titan stepped forward, a voice boomed through its speakers, "Step off of the dropship and come out into the open with your hands up!"

The two Plots slowly walked off the ship and lined up side by side in front of what could become their firing squad very quickly. The Titan pointed its weapon at Talon, "Sergeant Ryker, place your firearm and data knife on the ground and kick them over. IMC Pilot, remove any weapons you have and do the same."

Talon placed his brother's B3 Wingman and data knife on the ground as Trevor removed his RE-45 Autopistol and his data knife as well. As soon as the weapons were kicked over, a Pilot ran out from the crowd and quickly picked them up before moving back into the crowd.

"Our decontamination team will now be scanning you, any sign of aggression will be meet with lethal force, understood?"

The two Pilots nodded, two Grunts wearing much bulkier gear than the others walked over to the two of them, judging by the weight of the gear, all they could do was walk. The Grunts walked over and started to wave geiger counters over the two of them. Apparently, Talon had enough radiation on him to kill five adult men while Trevor only had enough to give the average man radiation sickness.

Before they were lead off to the decontamination chamber, Talon shouted to the group of soldiers, "There is the body of a female IMC Pilot still on the ship, we request that her body is cleaned with us."

The man within the Atlas remained silent for a second, "Fine, we will get you a stretcher, but you two will carry her."

Once they were given the stretcher, Talon and Trevor quickly but carefully lifted Trevor's sister onto the stretcher and was removed of any weapons. Once the body passed the security check by the two Grunts, the two Pilots carried the body through the hangar into a chamber within the hanger. Once inside the chamber, the door closed shut, and they were ordered to remove their clothes, place them in the corner and take a towel if they wanted to look a little more decent. Before discarding his gear, Talon took the dog tags and held them tightly. After Talon, Trevor, and Trevor's sister had towels covering their important bits, several alarms started going off followed with the voice, "Decontamination in progress."

The process was a lengthy one, through the entire process the two of them just had to stand there while the decontamination took its course, "So . . . Things could be going worse."

Trevor stood there in silence as the chemical filled hot water poured over him, his brown hair covered his eyes. Talon tried to think of something else say but just couldn't, he understood how Trevor felt losing a family member but it just wasn't something you talk so easily about. He still had to tell his father what happened with Johnny, and he had no idea how that was going to go. Talon started to wish he made an attempt to bring Johnny's body along at least, that might have made things easier but he left it rotting on a radiation filled planet.

Talon sighed, still thinking of something else to say. But Trevor decided to say something of his own, "I don't care what happens to me, just make sure my sister gets a proper burial."

"I will, it's the very least I can do after you got me through the IMC blockade. I'll do what I can do about getting you a better room." Silence hung between them for about a minute before Talon continued, "You said you wanted to join the Militia, why? You could just sit out the war in a comfy cell."

"I was actually born in the Frontier but on a planet under heavy IMC control. When the war started escalating, me and my sister were drafted. We were originally just supposed to be your average cannon fodder, but both my sister and I demonstrated remarkable skills in basic training and we were commissioned as Pilots. In truth . . . I didn't want to to have any part of this war, my sister either. But now . . . they took my sister from me, and I want revenge. I want to kill every IMC Pilot I come across."

Trevor's voice started to rise in anger, "All my sister was doing was patching up another human being. All she wanted to do was become a doctor after the war was over, but now . . . they took her future so now I'm going to take theirs! I am going to slaughter anyone who sides with the IMC! I'm . . ."

Talon placed a hand on Trevor's shoulder causing the angry Pilot to pause, "Calm down there buddy. There are people on the IMC's side because they were forced into it. We've managed to bring a little over a thousand Grunts over to our side. Although, you might be the first Pilot we've managed to turn."

The building rage slowly left the former IMC Pilot after a few deep breaths, "Well, there is definitely a first for everything.  
A brief chuckle was shared between the two mostly naked Pilots before silence returned for the rest of the cleaning. The entire process took at least an hour before they were given fresh clothes to put on. The two Pilots, now squeaky clean, stepped outside the chamber with Trevor's sister still on the stretcher between them only to be met with the security personnel that had met them when they got off the ship. This time, all the weapons were only pointed at Trevor.

"Out of the way, that's my son up there. I am a Colonel and I am ordering you to get out of my way!"

The sea of bodies parted to allow the commanding officer through toward the front of the group. Talon set down the stretcher and grappled into a bear hug with his father, "Thanks for waiting up."

"I knew you weren't dead, I knew it. Call it father's intuition. I was able to delay the jump out of the system being the highest ranking officer on this ship, crew wasn't happy about that but . . . I'm just happy you made it back."

Talon's grin faded, "Yeah . . . I wish I could have brought back more but this is about it."

The Pilot handed over the dog tag to Andon who took it and held it carefully like a small fragile doll. The Colonel studied the tag for a minute before a single tear ran down his cheek, "Looks like-" Andon made a couple sniffling sounds before continuing, "Looks like it's just me and you now."

"Yeah . . . at least he is with mom now." Talon brought himself out of the encroaching depressing mood and gestured over to Trevor, "This is Trevor. A _former_ IMC Pilot. He wants to join up with us, he is one of the best flyers I've ever seen."

Andon leaned in close to his son, "We can't take that risk, we should just throw him into a cell."

"With all due respect Colonel, without this man, I would have never made it off of Demeter, let alone the IMC blockade. You once told me that every single person born on the Frontier should have the opportunity to fight for its freedom." Talon pointed to his new friend, "That man there was born on the Frontier but he was drafted by the IMC. Now he is looking to get revenge for the IMC killing his sister. He could also give us some intel on Spectre factory locations."

"I'll do you one better, how about the location of the man who created the Spectre program in exchange for issuing me a uniform change, some weapons and a chance to fight those IMC bastards." Trevor spoke up.

Andon pushed Talon to the side slightly as he approached Trevor. The Colonel looked the man over in front of him, studying everything he could about the man, "You speak of Doctor Einhart? You know where to find him?"

"I know a place in which we can use to find him, a lightly defended IMC Intelligence Relay. I can tell you everything you need to know about that relay from what defenses it has down to the food in the mess hall. I was posted there for a while."

"Hmm, are those your only conditions?" Andon asked.

Trevor was about to nod when he looked back to Talon, " . . . One more thing, I want to fight alongside him."

Andon looked back to his son which the man was pointing to, "You trust him Talon?"

Talon studied Trevor once more briefly before smirking, "You better not hold me back, Specialist."

"Wouldn't dream of it Sergeant."

 **Hello my fellow readers, I wanted to post this after I finished the first season of a Jedi in Fairy Cloth but I've been dying to do something with mechs. While the story of Titanfall was near non-existent, it still had fun gameplay and I've been wanting to do a story with it for awhile. I also really like the VanDread series which I first watched way back when but I come back to it every now and then and still enjoy it. I had a different version of this story planned for awhile but I decided to scrap it and it happened a couple more times. This is version 5 I believe. I will still be wrapping up A Jedi in Fairy Cloth season one and then I will be starting season two of Shadowrunner of the Void but I will be writing this as well.**

 **I would also like to say this series here is heavily inspired by VanDread Halo by Freedom Guard. I highly recommend you also read his series, I had a really good time reading it.**

 **Anyway, join me next time on**

 **Chapter II:**

 **Adrift**

 **Until next time, stay classy, Rogue Pizza out**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own either of these two things I'm using . . . I am getting a lot lazier when it comes to this disclaimer stuff**

 **Sidenote: I would like to give thanks to my new editor, NightOwlCity. I would highly recommend checking out some of the stories he has written. He has written some really good stuff in my opinion so check it out if you get the chance or if you're looking for something else to read.**

 **Chapter II:**

 **Adrift**

 **Location: Unknown, Time: Unknown**

Talon's bedside alarm went off disturbing his peaceful sleep. "Uuuggghhhh, five more minutes."

His hand reached toward his alarm clock to try and shut it off . only to be met with a metallic surface instead of the hardwood nightstand he had in his personal room. And what was supposed to be his bed was instead a cool, flat, metallic surface as well. It slowly dawned on him, as his body started to wake up, that sound wasn't his alarm clock; it was the ship-wide alert system.

Talon bolted upright as his eyes shot open. At first it looked like the whole ship was shaking furiously but it turned out to be Talon's vision slowly coming back into focus. Other crew members were slowly getting their bearings, as well, as they woke up from whatever just happened. The ones who seemed less affected started helping others to their feet. A few crew members managed to get back to their stations to try and figure out what happened and to assess damage to the ship and her crew. A crew member at her station slammed down on her console, "God damn it! The whole system is down! Everything is going through a reboot!" She turned in her chair to the others around the room, "Anyone else got anything on their end?"

"No, just as you said, everything is rebooting. We are just as blind to what's happening outside the ship as we are inside." Replied another crew member.

A third started to panic, "I-if everything is rebooting, d-doesn't that mean the l-life support is down?!"

The female crew member spoke up again, "Calm down, in the event of everything rebooting, this ship has enough oxygen reserves to last a full crew forty-eight hours."

Talon finally decided to speak up, "Anyone hurt?"

A majority of the crew ignored him but one scrawny looking crew member who was being tended by two others spoke up, "I-I think my arm is broken."

The Colonel staggered over to the man, with a quick glance and a few pokes and jabs Talon looked to the two others with him, "Restrain him for a moment."

The two other hesitated for a moment but did as they were told, however the scrawny man started to panic. But before he could do anything, Talon grabbed the arm and gave it a quick jerk. A popping sound resonated from the man's arm as the shoulder was moved back into place. The scrawny man flexed his fingers before the other two released him. Without a further word between them, Talon turned around to see five crew members gathered around another who had yet to wake up.

Panic started to run rampant through Talon when he realized that it was his own father lying on the ground. Talon fell to his father's side to see what was going, a small pool of blood had formed under Andon's head but the General still retained his pulse. Acting quickly, one of the crew members grabbed a nearby tarma kit that was kept on the bridge and wrapped a bandage around his head while Talon and another snatched and unfolded a stretcher that was kept in a nearby emergency locker.

Two crewmembers whisked Andon away while a third kept a close eye on the General. Talon would have been one of the carriers but without his second arm, there wasn't much he could have done.

The bridge crew remained silent as their commander was carried off to the medical bay. But without Andon being fit for service, someone else had to take command of one of the worse situations a ship and her crew could go through. Standard procedure was to move down the chain of command to the next available officer. This one thought was going through every bridge crew member's mind. One by one, their gazes turned on their new acting commander. The crew member nearest to Talon turned slowly toward him and asked those words Talon was not even remotely prepared for.

"What are your orders, sir?"

To make matters worse, most of the ship's systems had finished going through reboot. Everyone's consoles suddenly lit up with reports across the ship, detailing the extent of damage: how many were either injured, killed, or missing, and those asking for immediate assistance. More and more crewmembers kept saying those words, 'What are your orders, sir?'. Talon tried his best to issue them as best he could. But for every thing he thought he solved, it would come back moments later while twelve new things that demanded his attention popped up.

He couldn't do it.

He couldn't handle the stress.

He broke.

He ran.

And left those on the bridge leaderless.

* * *

 **An hour later . . .**

The alarms had thankfully been turned off. To Doctor Einhart it was a blessing to not have blazing sirens help him go deaf as Jackie remained a step behind her temporary master. The doctor was searching for someone, and that someone happened to be missing his left arm. But even after a half hour of searching no results turned up and no one else seemed to know where he Luckily, his four legged companion was slightly better at finding people. Just as Einhart was about to give up and go back to the labs, Jackie stuck her nose to the ground and began sniffing. It took her a moment but once she found what she was sniffing for, she took off like a bullet.

Einhart sighed in annoyance, "Get back here, dog."

The doctor ran after the dog, weaving past soldier and crewmember alike, trying to catch Jackie before she went someone where she wasn't suppose to be and cause more trouble. But Einhart was a scientist, and wasn't very athletic at his older age. Soon beads of sweat had began to form on his head and his breathing pattern made it seem like he just ran a half marathon.

Luckily for the doctor, Jackie rounded a corner and disappeared through a doorway. Einhart leaned against the wall to, more or less, regain his regular breathing pattern. He glanced up and found Jackie had lead him to one of the ship's lounge areas. Once he was breathing normally, he peeked through the doorway to see the lounge was mostly empty save for the dog sitting down next to a stool with a man slouched over the bar. Einhart smiled softly before making his way over to the man, he briefly scratched behind Jackie's ears as thanks before sitting down on the stool next to the man.

"I thought you might need this." With that, Einhart set the cybernetic arm down of the bar and scooted it closer.

Talon gave the arm a lazy glance before he started taking off his Officer's jacket and setting it to the side. He rolled up the short sleeve on his undershirt before putting his metal appendage back to where it belonged. Einhart merely watched as Talon did what he needed. the doctor also noticed a full shot glass with look like some recently opened expensive brandy. Once Talon was done, he draped his jacket around his shoulders and went back to slouching over the bar yet he did not even touch the drink in front of him.

Einhart picked up the bottle to find that it was almost full, "And how many shots have you had. Doesn't look like you had any."

Talon nodded, "Haven't had a drop. I've just been staring at it for almost a hour now."

Einhart was baffled for a moment, "You're just . . . staring at it? You're certainly a strange one."

All he got in response was a simple nod. Several crewmembers could be heard running just outside the lounge door, their boots echoing on the metal floor. Silence hung between the two of them for a few minutes, the only sounds coming from the hallway or the occasional whine from Jackie.

Talon took a deep breath and braced himself for the answer for his next question, "H- . . . How is my father?"

Einhart did not answer right away as he tried to figure out the best way to answer. In the end, he decided to give it to him straight, "He's in a coma."

The Colonel's heart sank to a new low though he did not show it. Even if he hated his father, he was the man who raised him. Even after Talon's mother died, Andon tried his best to raise his two sons. And with one of the brothers now with their mother, all they had left was each other. Given enough time, and if they survived the war, Andon could have possibly had Yurika as a Daughter-in-law and maybe even a grandchild if the General lived that long. But with his father in a coma and the high possibility of Yurika being dead or captured, his small list of family grew ever smaller.

After another silent minute, Talon asked, "Do you know how long he might be like that?"

"From the medical report I read, he . . . he may never wake up. He hit his head pretty hard, his brain took quite a bit of damage. Even if he was to wake up, he may not be the same as he was before."

Talon let out an irritated sigh, "Well, that's it then. We're fucked." Einhart merely looked down at the bar as the soldier continued his rant, "Our ship is FUBAR, the medical bay is over capacity, we have no idea where we are and we can't call for help, we could be deep into IMC territory and we wouldn't know until we have three hundred IMC ship guns pointed toward us!" Talon's fist slammed into the bar, over turning the small glass of alcohol as he all but screamed, "And our only hope of getting us out of this complete and utter mess might never open his eyes again!"

Einhart had luckily picked up the expensive looking bottle of brandy before Talon's fist had slammed into the bar. The doctor let Talon simmer down, talking to him when he was heated like he was would have likely lead to more problems and that was the last thing they needed in their current predicament. Jackie had stood up in the middle of his rant and had cocked her head slightly, confused to what was going on. Talon let out one more sigh as he reached down and picked up the Jack Russell and set her on his lap. She didn't care what was happening anymore as Talon started scratching her belly, one of her back legs shaking as a result.

"You can do it." Einhart whispered

"Hmm?" Talon turned his head toward the doctor, "What did you say Doc?"

A serious look spread across Einhart's face as his gaze shot toward Talon, "Talon, I don't know much about military strategy or how to lead people. But I do know that you, and only you right now, can get us out of this mess."

Talon stared at Einhart for a couple seconds before erupting with laughter, "Ha, that's a good one Doc. Me? Commanding a ship full of people? And in the middle of a massive crisis? That's funny."

He took a quick look at Einhart to find that he still had the serious look ingrained on his face, Talon's laughter died almost immediately, " . . . You're not joking, are you?"

Einhart shook his head, "Nein, I am not. I truly believe that you have the ability to be a great leader."

Talon scoffed as he turned back toward the bar, "I'm no leader Doc, I am a soldier. You put a gun in my hand, and I will kill. Give me a Titan, and I will charge an enemy stronghold. But you give me another life to hold in my hands, and I . . . I . . ."

"You protect them with everything you've got." Einhart finished for him. Talon looked back to the scientist, surprised at what he said, "I've seen your battle reports, you've charged into heavy fire in order to pull out a single man, a Grunt who survived that battle because of you. You've refused several spots on evacuation transports just so you could fit a couple more civilians into it. You once stayed behind after an evacuation to carry an injured Pilot several miles away to a secondary evacuation site. And then back on Meni II, you delayed a transport from taking off by attaching a Satchel Charge to the pilot's seat. Why? To rescue two Grunts."

A confused look crossed Talon's face, "What do those have to do with anything? There is a big difference between pulling someone's ass out of the line of fire and taking command of a ship that is in critical condition!"

"This is true." Einhart replied calmly, "However, you have a natural instinct to protect those around you, even if you have to disregard your own personal safety. You have those cybernetic limbs because of your recklessness to protect other people!"

"I can be a soldier, I can try my best to save people in the combat zone, but I can't be a leader! I . . . I just can't be my father. I wasn't born to lead like him. I don't have what it takes." Talon's shoulders sagged as his head hanged lazily over the bar.

Einhart smiled gently as he placed a hand on Talon's shoulder, "Leaders aren't born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that's the price you'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal." Talon turned his gaze to the doctor, "Don't be your father, be you. Don't lead people as your father did, lead them how you think they should be lead. And give it your all, because at the end of this road we're on now, whether we perish or survive, at least you know that you tried your damnedest and did _something_."

Talon remained silent for a couple minutes before sitting up straight, the same serious look from Einhart was now ingrained on Talon's face, "You really think I can lead these men and women? I don't think I seem very favorable in their eyes right now.."

Einhart continued to smile as he removed his hand from Talon's shoulder, "Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results, not attributes."

A smirk crossed the Colonel's face, "Who said those?"

Einhart brought his hand to his chin,"I believe it was . . . Vince Lombardi and Peter Drucker, in that order."

"Never heard of them." Talon replied as he stood up from his stool and made his way to the exit, "Come on Jackie, you're gonna be my morale support."

Einhart watched him go with a proud smile, but that smile turned to a look of confusion when he saw Talon going the wrong way. He hurried after him, when he got to the doorway, he called out to Talon, "The bridge is the other way you know."

Talon laughed, "You said to lead them how I think they should be lead, right?" Einhart nodded and Talon continued as he gestured to his officer's uniform, "Well, I'm not gonna lead them in . . . this. I need something more comfy."

Einhart's smile returned as he saw the growing leader disappear around the corner, " _He'll do good . . . I know it."_

As he was about to head back to the lab, Einhart noticed that the bottle of brandy was still in his hand. On a whim, he took a quick sniff before taking a small sip. After smacking his lips together, he took another look at the bottle before responding with a simple 'hmm', and went back to the labs, bottle in hand.

* * *

 **10 minutes later . . .**

Talon stepped on to the bridge, snuggly in his old Pilot uniform, (which he loved so much more than that officer uniform), with his helmet in hand. His faithful companion Jackie stood at attention right at his side. The chaos on the bridge hadn't lessened in his absence, but it seem to have grown even worse than before which was a small surprise to him. He started to have second thoughts but quickly pushed those out of his mind. He _needed_ to do this. If he didn't, then he would regret it for the rest of his days. From the moment he stepped out of the lounge, he had been formulating a plan. It was probably a bad one but it was all he had. First he had to get everyone's attention.

Before he tried that, he noticed a familiar face standing in the center of the room, issuing orders. Or a better way of putting it was that they were _trying_ to issue orders but the chaos was just overwhelming. It seemed that there was just yelling and no solution making. " _God_ , _I sure hope this half-assed plan of mine gets some results."_

Talon walked over to the one trying to establish some semblance of order, "Hey Trev, you trying to steal my job?"

Trevor whipped around at the sound of his friend's voice, a furious look on his face, "Talon! Where the fuck have you been?! It's utter chaos here! Since you left, no one else has bothered to step up!"

The Colonel put a hand on his friend's shoulder, "I had some . . . issues I needed to sort out, alright? I have a plan, a poor one but a plan none the less. It probably won't work if I am by myself, so I need your help. Can I count on your support?"

"I . . . uh . . . What?" Was all that Trevor managed to get out, stunned by the calmness of his friend.

Talon smiled and slapped Trevor on the shoulder for encouragement, "Excellent, good to have you on board. First things first, I need your gun."

"What why? What happened your brother's B3?" Trevor asked, gesturing to the empty holster on Talon's leg.

"I . . ." Talon rubbed the back of his head out of embarrassment, "I kind of left it back at the hospital. Forget it on the way out."

Trevor sighed at first but smiled as he reached in large pouch resting on his leg, "At least you can admit it."

Talon was surprised that Trevor pull out a B3 Wingman out of the pouch; his brother's B3. Trevor tossed the hand cannon to Talon, "Grabbed it on the way out, I was gonna give it back to you once we reached the ship but . . . Just take better care of your stuff, alright? I like the Pilot uniform more, it suits you."

Talon's hand brushed lightly over the weapon, he thought he had lost this precious item, it was the last thing that he had of his brother. Talon nodded, flipped off the safety and fired a single shot into the ceiling.

The sound of the gunshot caused everyone to drop what they were doing and jerked toward the sound. A few people dropped to the ground, their hands covering their heads, others drew their own weapons and aimed them at the source. Most of the bridge crewmembers merely tensed up, wondering if the pressure finally caused someone to snap and go crazy.

Once Talon was sure all eyes were on him, he holstered his weapon and clapped his hands together, "Alright ladies and gentleman, I'm sure you all despise me right now but-."

A crewmember Talon didn't recognize stepped forward to challenge him, "You can say that again! You might as well left us for dead. Why in the hell should we listen to you now?! It's obvious that you're in no position to take command!"

A couple murmurs of agreement could be heard throughout the room. Talon sighed, the crew member was right. He wasn't in a position to lead and there was no reason for anyone on this ship to listen to his orders expect on his rank of Colonel alone. "You're right, I'm not in any position to take command. But, _someone_ has to. And if you think you're in that position, then by all means. sit in that chair if you think you're ready for the responsibility that comes with it, _sir_."

The challenging crewmember opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. Clenching his fists, the man took a step back and moved his gaze to the ground out of shame. Seeing no more resistance from the man, Talon gestured to everyone around the room, "Does anyone want claim the responsibility of getting us out of this massive shit storm?"

After a couple seconds of complete silence, Talon continued, "No? Then everybody shut the hell up. I'm not asking you to like me or anything, but I am _ordering_ all of you to do exactly as I say for the unforeseeable future. Understood?"

A few quiet 'yes sirs' came up from around the room. Unsatisfied, Talon shouted, "Griffin Corps, am I understood?!"

Most of the bridge crew stood at attention with salutes as most of them replied with, "Sir, yes sir!"

"Alright, everyone to your stations!" As everybody was running to their stations, Talon pulled Trevor to the side and nervously asked, "How am I doing?"

"Well. . ." Trevor started, "If you wanted everyone to hate you, job well done. How are you holding up?"

Talon looked back to the crewmember he had practically publicly shamed, "Well, I feel like I just punched a puppy in the face about ten times and I'm starting to get wobbly legs, other than that, terrified."

As Talon made his way over to the captain's chair, he set his helmet to the side and pulled his personal data pad and started rapidly typing on it. When he finished, he sent out what he had typed to all the nearby consoles, it was merely a list:

Life Support

Engines

Communications

Combat Systems

"Alright folks, what you see in front of you a list of things we need to prioritize. There's that saying . . . oh what was it?" Talon began to rap his knuckles on his head, "Something about chasing two something, and both getting away?"

"If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one?" Trevor chimed in.

Talon snapped his fingers, "Yeah, that's the one. If we try to focus on everything at once, we aren't gonna get anything done. This list prioritizes what _I_ believe needs to be up and running in order. If any of you were focusing on Engines, Communications or Combat Systems, change your priority to the top of the list. However, if you were working on other, such as coordinating the rescue of trapped crew members, getting our sensors back online, or anything along those lines, keep doing what you're doing, but a majority of our manpower should be focused on what I have listed."

A female crewmember off to Talon's right spoke up,"No disrespect sir, but shouldn't we prioritize restoring our communications over our engines so we can call for help?"

Talon nodded but replied with, "I thought that too but we have no idea where the hell we are, if we get our communications up and running and start calling who ever is closest for help, we may not like who responds. I would like the ability to escape in case such a thing happens. Okay, give me the status on our life support systems." Talon lowered his datapad and waited for an answer.

"Life support systems are at one hundred percent, sir. After the reboot was complete, it reactivated without any trouble." Talon looked this time to a male crewmember to his left as he continued, "We managed to have a technician look at it just in case, it seems to have been untouched by whatever happened to us."

Talon sighed, "Best news I have heard all day." He crossed 'Life Support' off the list and moved on, "What's going on with the engines? Do we have any functionality at all? And on that note, what's the status on our Jump Core?"

"Well . . .", Talon looked left again to see the scrawny man from before who dislocated his shoulder.

"Lay it on me." Talon prompted the man.

"Well, it might be better if you see for yourself." With a couple taps on his screen, he sent the data to Talon's datapad.

A irritated look appeared on Talon's face, " _What the status on our Jump Core? Answer: We don't fucking have a Jump Core!"_

Apparently, after the Jump where the core managed to get to three thousand percent charge, which was only possible in _theory_ two hours ago, it commenced the Jump. As a result of a three thousand percent charge, the Jump Core vaporized itself and anyone who had been caught in the room. Luckily, the Jump Core was in a room below the engine room behind reinforced steel sheets and there usually weren't more than ten people in the Jump Core, not to mention that everyone was suppose to be in combat positions, bringing the amount of people suppose to be that room down to two technicians. But there was still the possibility someone was caught in it, and nobody would know until they got a full head count.

On a more positive note, while the engines had taken quite a bit of damage, they weren't torn to shreds. With a little elbow grease and at least forty-eight hours of non-stop maintenance, they should be able to get them working again at least somewhat. However, they were going to have to dock at a spaceport for a full repair of the engines, and just about everything else for that matter. Although, repairing the engines would have to come later. According to reports, there were large amounts of debris everywhere in the engine room and some of the debris had people trapped underneath them. While the priority was to get the engines back up and running, potentially having some more people help the fix the engines would go a long way.

"How's the situation with rescuing the crew members trapped under the debris?" Talon asked around, hoping that someone had been keeping track of it.

"It's incredibly slow sir." Talon rotated the chair around to face the crew member whose station was near the bridge entrance, "We are spread thin as it is, so we only have ten personnel in the engine room attempting rescue with some Marvin assistance. If they had some heavy duty equipment, it might go a little faster but . . ."

Talon brought two fingers to each each of his temples as he began to message them, trying to think of something. The most obvious option was to try and get more people to the engine room to try and help out but as the crew member said, they were already spread thin, his options were limited. If they could get some heavy duty equipment such as forklifts or even a . . . Talon had a sudden thought.

"Wait a second, this ship has a large maintenance hallway that goes from end to end, right? To allow for maintenance crew quick movement throughout the ship?" Talon asked.

The crew member nodded back, "Yes sir, two in fact."

With the quick tap of a button on the captain's chair, a holographic interface popped up in front of him. After a quick login process, Talon suddenly had access to the entire ship along with the information that came with it, " _Why the hell wasn't I using this earlier?"_

He quickly found the maintenance hallways on the 3D map, with a couple more taps, he had the data he needed, the dimensions of the hallway. The hallway had cargo elevators in several locations as well, in case they needed to move some heavy duty equipment or cargo. One of these elevators ran up to the engine room, while another one ran up to what he was hoping for, the Titan Storage racks. His plan was to send a couple Atlas Titans down the hallway to the cargo elevator for the engine room, not only could they help with the rescue of the trapped crew members but they could assist with repairs as well.

"Someone find me three Pilots now, connect them to my console as soon as you can." A minute went by before all three Pilots were connected with him, their profile pictures popping up on his holographic console.

Luckily, he recognized all three of the Pilots. Master Sergeant Dion, the chocolate skinned man who trained Talon and his brother. Then there was Specialist Dolton, a man with a heavy Irish accent who was apart of Wraith Squad (the Pilot squad Talon often snuck out with). Finally, there was First Lieutenant Vera, squad leader of Longshot, and the woman who held the Militia's longest confirmed kill.

"Pilots, I need you three to head to the Titan Storage racks, and get into a Atlas Titan. Take the cargo elevator down to the maintenance hallway, then take another elevator up to the engine room. We have people trapped under some heavy debris so I need you guys to assist with rescue of any trapped crew members. Once all crew members have been rescued, your new task will be to assist with the repairs of the engines. All you need to do is the heavy lifting while the repair crew does the actual fixing. Can you do that?"

"Da, en route to Titan Storage racks." With that, Vera's picture disappeared.

"On route as soon as this idiot's knee relocated." Talon heard the scream of a man followed shortly by, "On my way Cap'n." Dalton's picture disappeared as well.

"So how does it feel issuing orders to everyone?" Dion asked.

"Weird." Talon simply replied, nervously rubbing his neck, "Especially since I'm ordering you around of all people."

A deep laugh came through the speakers, "Just don't make a habit of it commander, heading to Titan Storage now."

Once Dion's picture vanished, Talon announced to the crew, "If any of you didn't hear, our main priority right now is the rescue those trapped in the engine room. Once that has been accomplished, we will turn of efforts to restoring power to the engines themselves. So if you still have people working on restoring our communications or weapon systems, get them to the engine room. Even if they have no experience with repairing the engines, they can still help with manual labor."

A woman walked up to Talon and saluted before speaking, "Sir, the Chief Medical Officer needs to have a word with you."

Talon nodded, "Patch them through to my console."

The woman nodded before tapping a couple buttons on her datapad and then returned to her seat. A live video popped up of a woman in her mid-sixties with graying-brown hair had a concerned look, the name D. Elton was printed on her uniform "Colonel Talon . . . so you're in charge now? I heard someone had taken charge but I didn't know it was you. You have my condolences about your father, rest assured that he is in good hands."

Talon nodded once again, "Thank you Doctor Elton, that means a lot to me. Now, what did you need?"

"Two main problems, we are way over capacity here in the medical bay and we have run out of a basic necessity, pain killers. We were supposed to get restocked on basic medical supplies back on Kevan 4 but . . ."

"Understood. Hmm . . . the medical bay is right next to the primary hanger bay, why not expand into that?" Talon suggested.

"Well," The Medical Officer began with a little anger in her voice, "We need authorization for that from the ship's commanding officer, but since there was none to ask, we've been making due."

Talon let out a nervous laugh, "Ha . . . yeah sorry, I had some _things_ I needed to deal with. You have my authorization to move some of your lesser wounded into the primary hanger bay. From now on, don't bother asking, just do what you need to. But there is still the problem with the meds."

"We don't necessarily _need_ them, but it helps the ones with more severe wounds rest easier."

The Colonel began scratching his chin, "Yeah, sorry Doc. You're gonna have to . . ."

Talon stared at his hand, his gaze slowly moved to his shoulder where the cybernetics met his flesh and bone. Another idea popped into his head, "Wait a moment, contact Doctor Einhart. His main field is cybernetic enhancement but patients with new cybernetic limbs would often experience pain major pain with their new limbs. Pain killers were commonly used to dull the pain for them. Ask him if he has anymore in storage anywhere."

"Thank you commander." She was about to terminate the video connection when she paused for a moment, "I'll notify you immediately if anything changes on your father's condition."

"Thank you, if you have any other requests or problems, let me know." Talon terminated the video and rubbed his eyes, " _This is gonna be a long day."_

"Excuse me, sir?"

Talon opened his eyes to a Grunt in standing at attention in front of him, "At ease soldier, what do you need?"

"I'm Sergeant First Class Daniel, I've been working with some others in attempt to restore our Sensor array to try and get our bearings. In short sir, it's hopeless. Our sensor array took a direct hit just before we Jumped, we need to get it replaced when we manage to find a friendly spaceport."

Talon nodded, "Understood. You're dismissed, head to the engine room, we need some more people down there."

Daniel saluted once more before leaving. Talon leaned back in the chair and groaned. Without their sensors, they were literally flying blind. While they still had the use of line-of-sight, that wasn't going to tell them if a ship was sneaking up on them where they couldn't see. There were a limited number of windows, with them being structural weaknesses. Not only that, without their sensors, they couldn't figure out where they were. However, if they were to get their communications back up, they might be able to have some clue as to where they are by piecing together radio transmissions they pick up. But if he switched the priority to communications instead of engines, and they were found by the IMC first, then they all would be completely at their mercy, and that was something no one on a Militia ship wanted.

"Of course!"

Talon practically jumped off out his chair at Trevor's sudden voice. Trevor's face lit up with a smile, "Talon, I have an idea on how to fix our problem of flying blind. I have to go check myself but it's a possible solution! Give me fifthteen minutes and I'll let you know if it's possible or not!"

Talon hadn't seen Trevor this excited in quite a while since there were very few things that could get him this excited. The Colonel rose an eyebrow, "Well, if it's a possible solution, why are you still here?"

Trevor practically flew out the door, nearly hitting a crew member as they came running onto the bridge. As the time passed, more and more problems were brought up to Talon and he dealt with them as best he could. But through the endless amount of requests coming to him, he noticed something. There was still the same amount of yelling as when he first walked onto the bridge, but instead it being complete and utter chaos, it had been slightly reduced to only mostly complete and utter chaos. Despite how small the change was, it was still an improvement which meant that they were gaining traction.

Twenty minutes had passed and Talon was starting to get impatient with Trevor. However, right below Talon was about to contact him, Trevor beat him to the punch, "Talon!"

Once again, the Colonel jumped at his friend's voice, this time it originated from the speakers on the chair near his head. Talon let out an irritated sigh, "Stop surprising me! So, what do you have? Is your idea going to work?"

"Yes. So our problem right now is our sensors are completely screwed up." Trevor said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah, one of our many problems. Get to your idea already." Talon prompted.

"Well, our Hornet fighters come with their own sensor package. So I was thinking-"

"We take apart some of the Hornet's sensors and jury rig them to our ship?" Talon finished.

"No, that would take time. I recommend that we set up a perimeter of Hornets around the ship. This solves two of our problems at once, we have a limited view of what's around us and in case we get into trouble, we have some Hornets already deployed to protect us. While their sensors have a much shorter range, it's better than nothing."

Talon was nodding his head slightly, "Yeah. Yeah, it might take too much time to jury rig something. Alright, Trevor, I need you to manage this. I have too much on my plate as it is. I need you to scrounge up any Hornet pilots you can. Make a schedule. I want three eight hour shifts, three rotations per day. You have my authorization to pull the flyboys away from whatever they are doing, leave the wounded out of it. Get it done."

"Understood, I should be able to have the first patrol up in a couple hours. Trevor out."

When Trevor's picture disappeared, Talon ran his hands through his hair. All of this he was doing now, it was only the beginning. He had only taken his first few steps on this road he was walking down. There were going to be a few sleepless nights in the near future along with a seemingly endless stream of problems that he had to take care of. In a way, Talon felt that he was now the father of this ship, and everyone on it was now part of his family. And even though some of them may hate his guts, he was going to protect them all. Whatever was thrown his way, he was going to protect them. Whether it be from another system malfunction, more supplies shortages, or even an attack from the IMC, he was going to do everything he could to protect those aboard this ship. Because if he didn't, no one would.

Talon took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, "Alright, what's next?"

* * *

 **45 hours later . . .**

"Sir?"

Talon stirred slightly in his sleep, but did not awake. The crew member was at a loss at what to do. He had some information for his commander but from what he had heard, the Colonel refused to get a wink of sleep until the situation was under control. While the situation's severity had been significantly reduced, new problems have continued to pop up. However, with the situation cooled down enough that other bridge crew members, with nothing on their plate, could take some of the more minor tasks off their commander. For once in the past forty-five hours since Talon had taken command of the situation, he had nothing on his plate for a couple minutes. And within the first minute of having nothing to do, he leaned back in his chair and instantly fell asleep.

The bridge doors hissed open and in walked Trevor, helmet in one hand and cup of fresh coffee in the other. He sauntered over to his sleeping friend and winked at the crew member trying to wake Talon up, "Watch this."

Trevor held the cup of coffee close to Talon's nose, moving the cup from side to side and allowing the smell of it to enter through Talon's nasal passages. Talon shifted again, this time a loud yawn erupted from him causing a chain reaction of more yawns from around the room. The Colonel's eyes slowly fluttered open, blinking rapidly until he adjusted to the sudden amount light now entering his eyes.

"Coffee." Talon took the fresh cup and brought the brown liquid to his lips. He kept on drinking until the cup was only half as full than it originally was. Suddenly, Talon shot straight up out of his seat and seemed a lot more awake than he did a few seconds ago, "Coffee coffee coffee. Coffee! It's not as strong as methamphetamine, but it lets you keep your teeth."

Trevor was trying not to laugh but was failing horribly, "I think that coffee is a _bit_ stronger than methamphetamine."

Talon took another sip while eyeballing his friend, "You spiked my coffee with Stim, didn't you?"

Trevor smiled, "You looked like you needed it."

The crew member was shocked, "Isn't Stim incredibly dangerous? I heard a story about a Grunt who put two drops in his coffee and he couldn't sleep for a week."

Talon laughed at the memory, "Oh yeah, what the hell was his name. Started with a B, uh . . . Bill . . . Ben . . ." Talon snapped his fingers, "Burnie, that was his name. I warned him not to but . . . well, you know the rest."

Trevor decided to actually answer the question, "Pilots go through surgery when they are first initiated. One of the implants they put into you is designed to speed up your metabolism, so what ends up to be a week of no sleep for someone like you ends up as a short burst in speed and gives us a small temporary healing factor, speeds up blood clotting and stuff like that."

Talon took yet another sip as he lazily waved his hand at Trevor, "Alright, enough of this lesson." He turned toward the crew member, "Jacob, you have something to report?"

Along with dealing with an endless amount of tasks for the past forty-five hours, Talon managed to memorize most of the bridge crew on first name basis. Jacob, realizing that he was talking to his superior officer, threw up a salute, "Sorry sir, I just wanted to report that the personnel assigned to repairing the engines have reported that they have managed to repair and restore power to the engines. According to the techies, we can use the main engines, along with portside and starboard side thrusters, but there is a limit. They recommend that we keep main engine power under forty percent of maximum power. If we go over, there is a chance that the main engines could give out. The port and starboard side thrusters have no problems that they noticed. It should also be noted for the past forty- _six_ hours, meaning since the emergency Jump, we have been at near a dead stop. Our Distortion Break was destroyed with the core when we exited the Jump, but it did its job before we lost it."

Talon had a concerned look on his face, "So we've been sitting basically in the same spot for about two days now. How come no one has found us? Even if we aren't transmitting any signals, scanners would have picked up our heat emissions. Trevor, have you been able to figure out anything about where we are?"

"Actually yes and no, that's why I came to see you." The Pilot walked over to a nearby Real-time holomap followed by his friend, and plugged a USB into the holomap. An image popped up, floating a little above the table. There were simply three that were being displayed, the Solar Spirit, a unknown Planet, and the distance between the two.

Trevor looked back up to Talon, "I found a planet."

Talon took another sip of his coffee, "Congrats. Any information about it?"

"It's inhabited."

Talon paused in the middle of his sip, surprised at what Trevor told him, "What, how do you know? And how do you know about the planet in the first place, a Hornet's sensor range couldn't have picked something up that far away?"

"Well," Trevor began, nervously rubbing the back of his head, "I might have had some egg heads and technicians jury rig one of our Hornets with some of the parts remaining from the Solar Spirit's destroyed scanner array. While the sensor range is still small compared to the Solar Spirit's, it was a lot better than a standard Hornet's. The jury rigged Hornet's sensors picked up large cluster of lifesigns concentrated in one large area, meaning it only has one city and it's a massive one. However, we don't seem to have this planet on records so we might be on the very edge of the Frontier. And the sensor didn't pick up IMC signatures so maybe they don't support them or perhaps the IMC doesn't know about this planet either."

Talon thought for a couple minutes. While the people of this planet may not support the IMC, that didn't mean that they supported the Militia. For all they knew, this little society could be an isolationist colony, shunning all contact with the outside, and maybe going so far as to destroy any outsiders that come near them. There were too many unknowns that Talon didn't like, his primary concern was the safety of everyone aboard his ship.

The Colonel began to rapidly tap on the console in front of him, he paused for moment as he rubbed his chin. Trevor sighed when his friend remained silent, "You want to fill me in on what you're planning?"

Talon didn't say a word as he continued typing, annoying Trevor all the more. Regardless of whether the planet supported the IMC or not, that planet was their only hope right now. Talon planned to have the ship move toward the planet but remain a fair distance away when they arrived for two reasons. They didn't know how big the gravity well of the planet was and the last thing they wanted to happen was their ship being pulled down due to a miscalculation and gravity. The other reason if they were to moved too close to the planet, the inhabitants might see their arrival as a possible attack. But right now, what they needed was more time, they needed time to prepare just in case things went south. After a couple more taps on the console in front of him, he looked over to the large viewport where two crew members sat at their post.

"Helmsman!" The two crew members, who were the ones actually piloting the Solar Spirit, turned back to look at Talon, "Prepare for main engine power, thirty-two point two percent of full power. If the ship did my math for me correctly, and I hope to god it did, we should be at our destination in about thirty-six hours."

Talon turned back to his friend, "I don't want to go into a situation with the possibility of a fight with a bunch of zombies on our side, these people need some sleep. And food. Prepare to fire thrusters on my word." Talon sat back down in the captain's chair and pressed a single button.

A monotone beep rang out throughout the ship through the ship's PA system, "Attention everyone, this is your commander speaking, in the next twenty-seven hours, I want everyone to get at least eight hours of sleep. You've all been working round the clock with little sleep, and because of you all, we've brought this ship back to minimal functionality. And for that, you have my thanks. But it isn't over yet. In thirty-six hours, we will be coming into contact with a unknown colony on an unknown planet. Scans show that the planet is inhabited and have not picked up any IMC signatures meaning that it is possible that they do not support the IMC. However it is still possible that this colony may prove hostile toward us. In that time, we need to get whatever we can ready in case it does turn out to be a fight. Get some rest Griffin Corps, we may be down but certainly not out. One hour before contact, I want everyone in battle positions. Colonel Ryker out."

Talon switched off the PA system and turned his attention back toward the viewport, "Helmsman, commence acceleration."

A moment later the ship began to shake as its main engines and thrusters roared back to life. Once the shaking subsided after a half minute, Talon turned his attention back to the holomap as it began to calculate the estimated time of arrival which eventually settled on: 35H 57M.

Another female crew member approached Talon with a salute, "Sir, I got the data you requested. Should I transfer it to your personal datapad?"

Talon nodded as he pulled the device out of a compartment from the captain's chair. A moment later, it beeped letting Talon know the data had been received. The data itself was simple but retrieving was the complex part. Talon looked it over carefully, while he wasn't exactly happy by the data, it could have certainly been worse.

 **Solar Spirit Personnel:**

 **Total Personnel: 556**

Current Wounded: 201

(43 Crew, 107 Military, 51 Civilian)

Military Personnel: 245

(Pilot: 30, Grunt: 215)

Solar Spirit Crew: 174

Civilian: 137

(Medical Staff: 107, Other: 30)

KIA: 47

"The only reason why we've gotten as much repairs done as we have is largely thanks to the Marvins." Talon nodded in agreement, MARVIN Automated Assistants, also known simply as Marvins, certainly had their uses. Being able to perform a large selection of tasks, even in hazardous conditions. However they lacked the ability to handle tasks that required a large amount of physical labor unless they had the proper tools.

Talon looked behind his shoulder to see Trevor reading on it, "What worries me is how much military personnel we have. This ship is designed to carry two and a half thousand soldiers on a regular basis. Now, we're down to about a tenth of our regular fighting force, and some of them are wounded bringing it down further. You know what that means, don't you?"

Talon nodded with a grim look, "If we locked into a battle of attrition, we will lose, even with Spectre support. No two ways about it, we will lose."

At that moment, Talon's stomach decided to announce to the entire bridge that it required sustenance. Talon put a hand on his stomach, "Maybe having Stim spiked Coffee before a battle on a empty stomach was not a bright idea."

"Mess hall?" Trevor asked.

"Yeah, and on that note." Talon turned back to Jacob, "Hey, that thing I talked to you earlier about. Make it happen. Also, assign most of the repair crew to fixing our weapons but send a small group to make sure our communications have minimal functionality before we get to the planet. Be sure to have them rotate with others so they can get some rest as well. They deserve it."

Jacob saluted Talon once more before rushing back to his station. Trevor was curious once again, but he already knew that he wasn't going to get anything out of Talon until he showed him his plan. So without a word, he followed the Colonel down to the mess hall. Trevor was shocked to see at least fifty people already waiting there. However, they didn't seem to be waiting for food and all of them had one thing in common, they were injured in some way. Some had bandages wrapped around their head, others were leaning on a crutch to take pressure off of an injured leg. Some others had an arm in a cast as well while most of them had bandages on their upper body instead of something like a shirt. When Talon cleared his throat, the chatter amongst the injured personnel died down.

"Alright people." Talon announced to everyone as he clapped his hands together, "We all know why we are here, I thank you for volunteering despite whatever injuries you may have acquired. While you guys may not be able to do heavy lifting or anything strenuous, making food for your fellow soldiers and crew members is something you can definitely do."

Talon changed his posture to one of a officer addressing his subordinates, "Alright men, our objective in the next couple hours is to create enough food and coffee for approximately five hundred and fifty people. Men and women of Griffin Corps, are you up for the challenge?"

Every member of the crowd gave Talon a full salute making him feel a little more confident, "Alright, let's get to it!"

The crowd of people, with Talon at the front, funneled into the large kitchen. Trevor stood motionless for a moment while everyone moved into the kitchen. A chuckle escaped from him as he started to roll up his sleeves, "From Pilot, to ship captain, to head chef. He's gonna have one hell of a resume."

Talon quickly divided up work among the group. The ones who couldn't move around as fast were assigned to boiling coffee, those with lacking the use of one of their arms took on making simple soups, the rest set up multiple manual production lines of sandwiches. Trevor and a few others left the kitchen to grab carts that were left unattended and brought them back to make transporting the goods around the ship easier. An hour after they began, the first wave of food was ready to be sent out. Other crew members and soldiers who had wandered into the mess hall looking for a snack offered to take the carts of food and coffee around the ship in exchange for getting first servings. It wasn't long after that a small routine had been established: the carts of food and coffee would be delivered around the ship and would return to the mess kitchen when empty. An hour and a half into making and delivering the food and coffee, Talon found himself without anything to do again. The people working the food and coffee prep stations had become autonomous after getting the routine down to a T, he had to no longer communicate between the groups since they all knew what to do now without exchanging any words.

Then he heard something that made him feel warm inside, laughter, genuine laughter. The people in the mess kitchen were laughing as they went about their duties, telling the occasional joke to one another or reminiscing about memories of basic training or some pranks they used to play on another. It felt like it had been years since he heard laughter like this. Being part of the Militia didn't leave a lot of time for fun and games. All Talon could do was smile. Moments like these should be treasured in their line of work. You never know when a stray bullet could end it all for you or one of your friends.

Talon was brought out of his trance by a hand being placed on his shoulder. Standing beside him was his old Drill Sergeant, Dion. The chocolate skinned man let out a small laugh, "I should have figured you were the one to set this up."

"Well, I'm not going to let my crew starve to death. That's just screams the vibe 'shitty leader'," Talon replied as he scanned the kitchen, wondering if any new problems had arisen.

Dion patted Talon on the back, "Well commander, I'm relieving you of your position of head chef. You said everyone needs to get eight hours of sleep, at least, that 'everyone' includes you."

At the mention of the word sleep, Talon let out yawn, the effects of the coffee and the Stim having worn off a while ago. Talon trying to think of a reason not to but none came up. Nothing required his attention at the moment. Any small problems that popped up could be handled by the bridge crew, and if something big did pop up they could just wake him. His current orders were to get some sleep and repair as much as you can which would be fine until they reached the planet (judging if nothing else major happened until then). Plus, food and drink were circulating throughout the ship, bringing nourishment to those who needed it. Their engines were propelling them to where they needed to go. And it seemed life support wouldn't fail on them anytime soon. He couldn't think of anything else he needed to take of, so he conceded.

Talon nodded his head slightly as he yawned once more, "You're right. I'll go get some shut eye. There is one more thing I need to do before that."

After grabbing one of the carts that had been brought in and abandoned, Talon filled it up to the edges with plates of sandwiches, bowls of various soups, and two canisters of coffee with plenty of styrofoam cups. Talon brought the cart full of goodies up to the bridge, he wasn't sure if any of them had gotten any food so he wanted to make sure they weren't hungry. Also, it was his way of saying sorry for being a bit of a prick when he assumed command but it was necessary at the time.

The bridge door hissed open as the cart approached and closed with another hiss when Talon was clear of the doorway. The sound of one of the cart's wheels rattling against the metallic floor drew everyone's attention which made it easier for Talon to have everyone's attention when he started speaking.

He wheeled the cart up next to the captain's chair before addressing the crew, "I know that I was a bit of an . . . asshole and I apologize for that. We were in a state of emergency and I had to get things done, one way or another. But I brought food and coffee in case any of you haven't had any yet and as a peace offering."

"I . . ." Talon began after a short pause, "I don't have any experience of leading a group of more than ten people. Two days ago was the first time I had a entire ship under my command. I'm still learning so if you could put up with this idiot commander's choices for just a little longer, I'll do my best to make sure every man and woman on this ship sees their friends and family again, those that are still with us. I have no hidden motives or goals, all I want is for you all to safely get back home, and until that happens, that is my only objective."

Talon stood silently in the middle of room under everyone's gaze, unsure of what to do next. His hand nervously ran through his hair as he waited for someone, anyone, to say something.

"I'm with you sir."

The fledgling commander turned to see Jacob standing up from his chair, saluting at Talon, "Whatever you need, I'll help."

"S-same here." Eric, the scrawny man from before, was standing and saluting as well, "You don't have to handle everything yourself."

Slowly, one by one, each crew member stood up and saluted him. At the end of it, there was one person left sitting, the man who had challenged Talon when he assumed command. The man looked from side to side at his fellow crew members before he stood up with a sigh. The man gave Talon a salute but added, "I still hate your guts . . . sir."

Pride and confidence filled Talon as he returned the salute to his crew, "I swear on my life that I will get us all back home."

"We know, sir." Jacob responded.

"And now, so does the entire ship." Talon's gaze shot to the captain's chair only to find it empty. Or was it? Looking closer, Talon could see a faint silhouette leaning back in his chair. A Militia Pilot blinked into existence, the words D. Beckett were stitched into his uniform.

"What the hell are you doing Dalton?" Talon asked, slightly angry that the Pilot broke up a proud moment for himself.

"It was Trevor's idea." The Militia pointed down to his hand which was lying on the chair's armrest, with a finger on one button, the PA system.

The door hissed open as Dalton stood up from the chair and Trevor walked in with a grin, "If the crew wasn't behind you before, now they are."

Trevor walked over and put a hand on Talon's shoulder, "One of the greatest things that can motivate a soldier to fight is knowing that his commander loves him like a brother. Having the trust of your subordinates helps get things done."

Talon was . . . grateful. He didn't know how he was going to address the rest of the crew but with Trevor and Dalton's help, everything that needed to be said was said to everyone. He could only hope that the rest of the crew were now behind him one hundred percent for the time being.

Talon looked around to see that the bridge crew were still saluting him and they probably weren't going to stop unless he left the room or he told the to relax, "Everyone, at ease. Back to work, we have a lot that needs to be done."

Trevor slid his arm around Talon's shoulders and pulled him off the bridge, "All that you need to do right now is get some sleep. Dion told me that I was to show you to your room."

"Relax Trevor, I was going to get some sleep anyway." Talon shrugged of his friend's arm and stretched as he let out a yawn, "Sensors pick up anything else?"

"N- . . ." Trevor stopped himself, apparently thinking something over before continuing, "No, they haven't."

Talon placed a firm hand on his friend's chest, stopping him in place, "Trevor, don't lie to me. If there is a potential threat, I need to know to know about it. No two ways about it."

"It's just . . ." Trevor started, trying to pick his words carefully, "Our Hornet's scanner _might_ have picked up _something_ following us."

Talon motioned for him to continue, Trevor finally gave in,"Well, we picked it up about half an hour ago. It appeared behind us and closed the distance to a thousand kilometers. It's currently maintaining this distance and it's maintaining our speed perfectly. I had the helmsman change our speed slightly a few times and it matched us within a second."

Trevor groaned in pain when Talon slugged him in the shoulder, "You're saying for thirty minutes, this thing suddenly showed up on radar, closed the distance between us, and is currently following us? And I'm now just hearing about it?! Has it tried communicating with us? Can you tell what class of ship it is? Anything?"

"Our jury rigged scanner can only do so much you know. It hasn't tried contacting us, not that we can tell anyways with our communications down, and scans show no signs of life so it's a automated ship. It's bigger than us but smaller than a Large Space Tanker, such as the Annapolis. The shape . . .," Trevor paused for a moment, trying to figure how to describe, "The ship's shape is unlike any ship we have on records. The ship is shaped like . . . well without a better word, an egg. Without our usual scanners, we can't get a more detailed scan so we don't have that much to go off of. But . . . something feels wrong. Like it's watching us, observing us."

Talon threw his arms up in annoyance, "Great, now _I'm_ paranoid."

The Colonel leaned up against the wall, thinking of what to do. A minute passed by before he decided what to do, "I want every Hornet we have ready to launch at a moment's notice. If that thing is even an inch closer, I want to know the second it does. If I wake up and we're under attack by it, I'm gonna hang your ass on my wall."

Trevor laughed, "You should be a interior decorator. Don't worry. I'll wake you the moment something happens, you can trust me on that."

"Alrighty then, glad we got that sorted out." Talon pushed himself off the wall as he resumed walking down the hall to his room.

The door to his personal room hissed open. Jackie was already asleep on his bed; a mostly empty bowl sat in the corner with another bowl that contained water. The room itself was largely undecorated: a queen sized bed took up a good chunk of the room, the work desk took up another chunk of the room as well leaving little room for anything else. Luckily, the bed frame itself was a dresser, allowing Talon to save up on space a little. A closed door sat at the opposite side of the room from the entrance. Behind it was his own personal bathroom (which he loved having). He used to take personal bathrooms for granted until he signed up with the Militia. One of Talon's additions to the room was a hardwood nightstand that sat beside the bed. Up on it was two pictures,: one of his family back at their home on Apep (when times were different) and the other was of Yurika teasing him (which was taken by his brother when he was still around). The only other thing in his room lay hidden on the other side of his bed; the tool kit he used to clean and keep his robot limbs in top condition.

Talon turned back to Trevor before his door closed, "Wake me in exactly eight hours, alright? I'm serious here."

Trevor held his hands up, "I understand, just get some sleep already. And maybe take a shower when you wake up. A shower never hurt anybody . . . well, unless they slipped and fell in the shower."

As soon as the door hissed closed, Talon removed his tactical vest followed by the Kevlar. He then trudged over to his bed and fell face first into it. He considered pulling out his datapad and setting an alarm on it but decided not to, thinking, " _Ah, he'll wake me up. I should have more faith in Trevor."_

* * *

 **17 hours later . . .**

The first thing Talon felt when he awoke was anger, he knew that he had slept well over eight hours. He pushed himself up from the bed, mumbling, "I'm gonna go kill that bastard."

Jackie's ears perked up at the sound of her master. The dog let out a drawn out yawn as she stretched her limbs waking them up. Once she felt fully awake, Jackie hopped off the bed and went to her corner which contained her mostly eaten food and water bowl. Talon watched her as he too stretched; his spinal cord popping in a few places as he did. He ran a couple fingers through his hair to find it greasy enough for him to want to take a quick shower. Talon tossed his Pilot uniform onto the bed and ran into the bathroom. Four minutes later he came running back out. He quickly put on a pair of fresh underwear and socks before he clothed himself in his Pilot's uniform once again. Once his brother's sidearm was secured in its holster on Talon's leg, he sprinted out to the door to go punch someone in the face. Jackie, now fully awake, sprinted after Talon and managed to make it out the door just before it hissed shut.

It didn't take him long to reach the bridge since his room wasn't that far from it. Once the door hissed open, Talon looked for his friend to find him sipping coffee near the viewport, staring down at his datapad. He noticed that most of the bridge personnel that he had seen at their stations when he left had swapped with another crewmember. Most likely to get some more food or take a much needed rest.

Talon stomped his way over, "Trevor!"

Trevor nonchalantly took another sip of coffee, "Oh, Talon, sleep well?"

"I'm gonna assign you to latrine duty, I swear to god I will." Talon jabbed Trevor's chest with a finger, "Why the hell didn't you wake me up after eight hours?! You said you would!"

"Nope, all I said is that I understood you and to get some sleep, nothing about doing what you said." Trevor replied before taking yet another sip. He held the mug out to Talon, "Coffee? Stim free."

Talon rubbed his temples, "What's the point of being your superior if you don't listen? Just . . ." He sighed, conceding when he realized that he wasn't going to get anywhere with Trevor on this matter, "Anything to report, like on that thing following us?"

Trevor glanced back to his datapad, "Nope. It's still maintaining the same distant with no changes in behavior. A few other problems have popped up but they have been dealt with by yours truly. We have about thirty-seven percent of our defenses back online and working. The boys working on the communications managed to restore local communications, meaning we can talk with our Hornets. They also say that they should have the more long ranged communications up by the time we arrive. What else . . . Oh yeah, about forty-two percent of the active crew have gotten eight hours of sleep, yes, I've been keeping track. Thanks to your idea of getting some painkillers from Einhart, Doctor Elton have reported that most of her patients are resting easy now. I also had someone look at our inventory and we're pretty well stocked up on everything except some basic medical supplies. Thank god we started restocking as soon as we arrived. I have to ask, when were you planning to address the problem with our shields?"

Talon froze, "Wait, what problem?"

"Well-" Trevor took yet another sip from his coffee, "The fact that our ship shields have not been working since we made the emergency Jump."

A dumbfounded look was plastered across Talon's face, "What?"

Trevor was bewildered, "How in the hell could you forget something as important as that? I mean, the _only_ thing it does is keep our ship from being torn apart!"

Talon threw up his arms in a mixture of anger and annoyance, "Well, I'm sorry, alright!? I've had to deal with plenty of other things in the past couple of days! I was bound to overlook something! Why didn't you do anything about it?!"

"Because I thought you were thinking of a solution to try and fix it!"

"God damn it Trevor." Talon moved over the captain's chair and pulled up the holographic interface. He was angry at Trevor just as much as he was angry at himself. Trevor was right, it didn't occur to him at all to check the status of their shielding system and not doing so was a very big mistake. It didn't occur to him to check it since Talon almost never had to deal with it as a soldier. The only time he ever dealt with shields is with Titans, but even then, in the middle of combat he never payed much attention to it. The shields were an afterthought to him in the middle of combat.

At the current moment, they had something following them that could attack at any moment and their ship had no shields. While the armor on their ship was still pretty thick, with enough time and/or firepower, their armor could be punctured. And one hole in the wrong place could lead to half the crew getting sucked into the void of space or cause the entire ship to break apart due to structural failure.

Talon quickly read over the condition of the shield generator. A glimmer of hope sparked when he noticed that a small group of technicians had been working on the shield generator since it went down. With a quick message to one of technicians, he asked if fixing the shield generator without the aid of a spaceport possible. The answer brought mixed feelings, the answer was yes but they were going to need more manpower. Even with twenty more helping hands, they were going to need another two days to _maybe_ have it working again. He didn't want to slow down with that unknown ship tailing them, if anything, he wanted to speed up but he didn't want to risk the engines giving out. And if he started taking too many technicians away from other tasks around the ship, the progress on those would slow.

As much as he didn't want to admit it, the shields were a lost cause at this point. There were just too many other things that still needed the attention of some repairman. Talon ordered those working on the shields to switch to restoring their weapons systems; primarily their automated point defense guns which dealt with smaller enemy spacecraft.

A crew member who sat near the viewport spoke up, "Sir, we may have problem."

Talon sighed, " _Time for the rest of my day to start."_ The commander stretched his back muscles as he asked, "What's the problem this time?"

"The unknown ship is closing in on us."  
Talon froze mid stretch, " . . . Shit."

The Colonel immediately switched gears as he leaned forward in his chair, "Trevor, tell our Hornets to prep for immediate launch. Friendly or not, an increase in the number of Hornets deployed should show them that we mean business. I'm calling for battlestations."

"Understood but . . ." Trevor paused for a moment, hesitating.

Talon made eye contact with Trevor, "If you have something to say, spit it out. I am more than willing to hear what you have to say in moments like this."

"What if this automated ship isn't hostile, what if it's a scout ship for the planet we're approaching. What if by suddenly deploying more fighter craft makes them assume we're hostile and attack us as a result? What if they are simply moving closer to try and establish contact?" Trevor explained.

"What happened to that feeling of unease?" Talon questioned.

"I'm just thinking of other possibilities."

The man brought up a good point, maybe the ship had been try to contact them but with only local communications working, they couldn't pick up any of their transmissions? It was an entirely possible situation. But Trevor's entire statement was an _if_ statement. Ifs were very dangerous in war for it meant taking risks but war was made up of risks. And something else bothered Talon, the ship approaching them was larger than his ship, and his ship was an Carrier-class warship which were generally larger than most ships with a few exceptions. Scout ships were typically made to be as small as possible to avoid enemy detection, so why would you need a scout ship larger than a Carrier-class? Unless the ship had a Cloaking function which was experimental tech for warships, there was no way a remote colony had access to that kind of tech. But there was still the possibility the ship wouldn't prove hostile and Talon wouldn't argue with a friendly reception. The ship could have been some kind of communications amplifier, meant to receive long range transmissions. Sort of like a mobile communications center.

Talon nodded slightly, "Alright, have our Hornets on standby and have them on a hair trigger."

Trevor gave Talon a quick salute before he moved over to an unoccupied console. Talon linked his fingers together and rested his nose on his hands, waiting. Thanks to some additional jury rigging on the Hornet with the enhanced sensors, which had been dubbed the 'Spyglass' by Trevor, the ship could now transmit data directly to the Solar Spirit meaning that they didn't need to hear what was happening word by word from the pilot. Talon also made a mental note when he heard the Hornet's new name to talk with Trevor and ask why the hell he named a ship after the IMC's Vice Admiral.

Beads of sweat formed on Talon's head as he watched the ship approach to exactly one hundred kilometers and held it's position.

Once the ship ceased moving closer to the _Solar Spirit_ , Talon called out to his Comms Officer who was in charge of ship to ship communications. At the mention of their name, they swiveled around in their chair to face Talon, "Transmit a local broadcast, I want to see if I can speak with whoever is controlling that ship."

Talon waited until his Comms Officer gave the thumbs before leaning back in his chair slightly as he spoke, "Come in unidentified ship, this is Talon Ryker of the _Solar Spirit_. We mean you no harm."

The Colonel thought it best to leave the fact that this was a military ship that belonged to the Militia in case whoever controlled this ship was Pro-IMC. And it wasn't unnatural for civilian ships to have a fighter escort.

But no response came which set Talon a little more on edge, "Unidentified ship, can you hear me? Please respond. We are in need of assistance. Our ship has taken damage from a recent battle and we have injured on board. Can you assist us?"

Silence once again.

"Can anyone hear me? Hello?" When no one responded, Talon threw his hands into the air out of frustration. He turned toward the Comms Officer, "Are you sure we're transmitting?"  
The Comms Officer nodded, "Yes sir, we do have an outgoing signal. Perhaps the issue isn't on ou-"

"Sir! We have movement!"

"Put it up on a Holo table!" Talon immediately dropped his current conversation and swiveled around in his chair when the image of the pursuing ship appeared on the nearest Holo table. Talon had to agree with Trevor on his statement from earlier, the ship was shaped like an egg. The unidentified ship's entire bow, or what he assumed was the bow, was opening; revealing the interior of the ship. It reminded Talon somewhat was a mouth. Once the gaping maw finished opening, it launched two large cube like structures.

The blood visibly drained from Talon face when those two cube like structures broke into a couple dozen separate spacecraft. The new spacecraft were odd, unlike any craft he had seen. It had a square head, two legs and two tube like appendages with clamps on the end with a thin torso. But it wasn't what they looked like that made the blood drain from his face, it was the fact that those couple dozen ships were speeding toward his ship at high speeds.

His fist slammed down on the ship wide PA system as he screamed as loud as his voice would allow, "ALL HANDS TO BATTLESTATIONS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL, I REPEAT, NOT A DRILL!"

 **Hello again my readers, it is nice to be posting another chapter. Now you may be wondering where is the next chapter of A Jedi in Fairy Cloth is? (If you read it that is) Well, in short, I'm kind of stuck where I want to take the story so it is on a small hiatus for the time being. But I have not given up on it, so until I figure out where to take it, I'm busying myself with A New Frontier.**

 **There hasn't been much action in the last two chapters but that's going to change with the next one. I have been looking forward to this next chapter, time to lock and load and let the bullets fly.**

 **And one last note, I've been thinking of way to include my readers into my story a little bit, since you guys are taking your time to read my story. So what I want to try to do is incorporate your guy's OCs. I want to give you guys a little more interaction with the story, so if you are interested in having your own little character pop up every now and then, go ahead a PM message me with your idea on the character.**

 **Right now, all I need is two more members for Wraith Squad. There is only two requirements: Your Pilot must have the Cloak for their Tactical Ability and at least one weapon must have a silencer (whether it's their primary, secondary, or both).**

 **Also please include the following:**

 **Name (First and last)**

 **Physical Description (Age, gender, build, hair and eye color, etc)**

 **Weapons (Primary, Secondary, Anti-Titan, Ordnance)**

 **Titan (Prefered Titan and loadout)**

 **Personality (How they act basically, what are their beliefs, what would they stand up for and what do they shun, what are the thoughts that go through their head, what makes them stand out)**

 **Backstory (Where did they come from and where did they go . . . But seriously, what's their history? Where they born, in the wide open Frontier or back in the Core Worlds where they sought to escape from? What shaped them to be how they are today, the battles they lived through, the triumphs they accomplished or the horror they experienced)**

 **It's only two characters right now but there will be more later, I promise. But keep in mind, it won't just be Pilots. Maybe I'll need a badass Grunt or two, maybe an eccentric mechanic, or perhaps a crew member that may need to go above and beyond what is expected of them.**

 **Although it's possible that this idea won't make it off the ground. If that's the case, no biggie. This is just an idea I'm testing out and ideas can be good and bad. If you are interested, don't hesitate to leave me a PM with your OC idea. Don't be afraid to make it detailed as you can, the more info you give, the less I have to assume about your OC.**

 **Anyway, join me next time on:**

 **Chapter 3:**

 **TBA (To be announced)**

 **Until then, stay classy, Rogue Pizza out**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

 **Tooth and Robotic Nail**

Even before Talon had finished his order, red lights began flashing across Bridge followed closely by blaring alarms. Everyone switched gears as the new situation was developing, a squadron of Hornet fighters came into sight from the Bridge viewport but disappeared as quickly as they came.

Talon stood from his chair as he began to direct orders, "Keep our Hornets in formation around the _Solar Spirit_ , our 70mm Point Defense Guns should give our pilots an advantage. Mobilize all Security Teams in case of hostile borders and lock down the primary hanger bay. I don't want any of these spindly bastards getting my ship. Tag those smaller incoming units as Unknown Bravo and that bigger one as Unknown "Alpha". Talon took a quick breath before continuing, "Someone tell me what we have in the way of operable defenses."

A moment passed before he was answered, "Sir, exactly seventy-four out of our two hundred and fifty 70mm PDGs are operational and are acquiring targeting solutions. We have a handful of Medusa Rocket Launchers still active and an even smaller number of Lancer Missiles. Our forward Magnetic Accelerator Cannons are still undergoing repairs and Hellraisers on the Port and Starboard are still down, our technicians have no idea what's wrong with them. Our options are severely limited, sir."

Talon bit his lip as he muttered, "Without our Magnetic Accelerators and Hellraisers, taking out that pursuing ship isn't going to be easy. But when is it ever easy?"

"Targets will be in range of PDGs in three . . . two . . . one." And on que, the _Solar Spirit's_ 70mm Point Defense Guns opened fire on the Bravos. Hornet fighters broke their formations and began engaging any targets that came into their view. The Bridge door hissed open, a squad of a dozen Grunts rushed onto the Bridge and fanned out across it. As with any engagement, it was required to keep a team of soldiers on the Bridge for security reasons.

Several Bravos flashed across the viewport with a couple Hornets in hot pursuit. From what Talon could understand from the situation on the Holo table, whatever these Unknowns were, the Hornet fighter teams seemed to be making short work of them. What had originally been over two dozen enemies a few minutes ago had already been reduced to a little over a dozen.

Trevor stood up from his console and approached Talon, "Sir, permission to join the fight?"

"Denied, I need you here in case something happens. Besides, our fly boys are making quick work of these Bravos." Talon gestured to the Holo table nearest to him, "Besides, I have a gut feeling this isn't all our new friend has to throw at us. What I need you to do is try to figure out what the hell these things are. My guess is some kind of new IMC toy."

A sour looked crossed Trevor's face before he gave a quick salute and went back to the terminal.

 **Specialist Dex Chambers, Militia Grunt, Hornet pilot**

Dex brought his sights down on his third Bravo kill of the battle, his Hornet easily maneuvered him into position behind his target. Once his targeting system had the enemy locked, he eased down on his control stick's trigger. The Hornet's 35mm autocannons sent minor vibrations throughout the craft as they spun up and unleashed a lead filled hell onto the lone Bravo, shredding it in seconds. Once the craft exploded, Dex quickly maneuvered his Hornet out of the way of the debris, not wanting to scratch the paint most of all.

"Oh come on! Give me a challenge! These things are easy to deal with than Phantoms!" The Specialist exclaimed over the radio.

A voice returned his complaint, "Cut the chatter Dex. Return to formation, you're straying too far from the ship."

Dex let out a small laugh, "Oh don't worry about it Sergeant. These Bravos aren't nothing!"

"Return to formation, now! That's an order!"

"Yes, sir." The pilot sighed as he maneuvered his fighter back toward the _Solar Spirit_.

Dex made sure he wasn't transmitting when he said "Someday, I'm gonna have my own squad and I won't have to listen to that stuck up as-"

His complaining was suddenly interrupted when his squad leader's voice shouted "Dex! You got three Bravos on your tail!"

Dex's grip on his controls tightened as he smirked, "You wanna dance? Let's dance!"

He killed his main engine and used the Hornet's micro thrusters to perform a one-eighty, once he was turned around he immediately slammed down on the throttle which brought his engines back to life and speeding toward the enemy. The maneuver took only three seconds to perform after the countless hours of practice he had put into it.

However, and much to Dex's surprise, the Bravos executed the same exact maneuver as he did and were already on his tail once again, "Huh, slippery little buggers, aren't you? You should be a little fun to play with. Let's see how well you can keep up with me!"

Dex began pulling out all of the little tricks he had up his sleeves but each time he tried a new maneuver to get behind his enemy, not only did the Bravos perform the exact same thing, they were even better at it than Dex was. Beads of sweat started slide down his face slowly as each maneuver he tried was quickly replicated, his grip on the Hornet controls tightened even further as did the knot in his stomach.

"Dex! What's going on, why haven't you bagged those three Bravos?!" The Sergeant's voice came yelling through his helmet's speaker.

Dex's voice came through a little more panicky than he would have wanted, "S-Sir! These Bravos aren't like the others, e-every move I pull they replicate it! I can't get them in my crosshairs at all sir! I can't shake them either!"

The Sergeant let out a growl, "Silver, Kaze, form up on me. Let's show these bastards what happens when they pick on one of our own!"

"On your six, sir."

"Roger that, be there in a second."

"Dex, bring them back toward the _Solar Spirit_. We'll do the old _Over n' Under_!"

"Roger that, sir!" Dex responded before he slammed down on the throttle once again.

Dex's radar told him the three Bravos were still hot on his tail, but Dex's focus was solely on the _Solar Spirit._ The battle raged on around him as he shot passed his fellow pilots as they finished up on whatever target they had set their sights on. Dex on the other hand was going full throttle at the _Solar Spirit_ as if he was going to ram the ship.

However just before he rammed into it, he pulled back his control stick and ended up nearly scraping the hull of the ship. His rader continued to show that the three Bravos had not given up on him. However, Dex had them right where he wanted them.

As soon as Dex was over the other side of the ship and was back out in open space, he said the word, "Over!"

"N' under!" Came his three squad mates.

The moment Dex was in their sights, the three Hornet pilots held down their trigger and unleashed a combined barrage of 35mm rounds. To the three Bravos, a wall of bullets suddenly appeared right behind their target and they didn't have enough time to change course. The end result: all three Bravos flew headlong into the 35mm barrage and were torn into little more than scrap parts.

Dex breathed a sigh of relief as he leaned back in his seat, the grip on his controls easing up as well. A few moments later, he found his fellow squad mates flying in formation. He could see into Kaze's cockpit, the man was giving him the thumbs up.

"That was some fancy flying out there Dex, thanks for being our decoy out there. Ended up being another kill for me." Kaze laughed.

Dex frowned, "Decoy? I'm nobody's decoy! I was just leading them toward you guys."

"Yeah you are Decoy, that's what a decoy does." Silver joked.

"Wait, did you just call me Decoy?" Dex asked with a hint of anger.

Silver chuckled, "What do you think Sarge, good name for the rookie, don'cha think?"

"All those for Dex's callsign to be 'Decoy'?" Asked the Sergeant.

Kaze and Silver both let out a simultaneous, "Aye!"

"And those against?"

Dex was bewildered, "Are you guys serious?!"

"The 'Aye's' have it. Welcome to the squad Decoy." With that, Sarge sped off back toward the _Solar Spirit._

"Look forward to working with you Decoy." Silver followed the Sergeant back to the ship.

"Let's see if you can live up to your name." And with that, Decoy was left flying alone as his last squad mate turned back.

Decoy was stilled stunned, "Wha- . . . What just happened?"

Sarge's voice came through the speaker after a couple moments, "Decoy, return to formation. We need to get back to the _Spirit_. Don't want to be left behind, do you?"

The pilot let out a drawn out sigh, "Yes sssssiiiirrrrrrr."

 **Talon,** _ **Solar Spirit**_ **Bridge**

"Two . . . one . . . aannndddd . . . all hostiles have been eliminated, sir."

A small cheer went throughout the bridge as Talon chuckled, "If that's all that thing has to throw at us, then this _will_ be easier than I thought. How many of our Hornets took a beating?"

A moment went by before a voice spoke up, "Sir, all Hornet pilots report that they still are combat ready. No one is reporting any damage to their craft."

Talon laughed, "Ha! Looks like I severely overestimated them. We still have to take out that main ship, but if that last battle says anything, taking out the main sh-"

Trevor approached with a salute, "Talon, I have some unsettling news."

"Man, you just always have to rain on my parade, don't you." Talon sighed.

Trevor looked concerned, "I'm serious here. At first, I was positive that it couldn't be true. But I double, triple, and even quadruple checked. Even now, I'm still not sure if it's true."

If Trevor looked concerned, then Talon definitely had a reason to be as well. The Colonel stood up and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, "What is it? What has you so worried?"

"Talon, if what I gathered is right, the enemy Bravos didn't fire a single shot. I went a step further and asked some of the pilots I know if they saw the Unknown perform any sort of attack, all of them said the same thing, nothing."

Talon clenched his fist out of nervousness, "That . . . doesn't sound good. But why? Why would they just send over two dozen units to die needlessly?"

"Well-" Trevor began, "This thing following us is some kind of automated machine, right? What if that initial wave was just to probe our defenses and see how our pilots fought?"

"You mean some kind of AI that adapts its tactics from what it experiences? Like the IMC Vice Admiral, Spyglass? Each time we fought against him, it was a little bit harder as it recognized our moves. Is that what you're thinking?" Talon asked

Trevor merely nodded in response. Talon sat back down in his chair thinking. If this thing following them was like Spyglass, it meant that during this time it will compile the data from the last fight and going to prepare its units for the next assault. The Colonel began tapping his finger on the metallic armrest, as he tried to think of something to try and even the odds.

A idea finally came to him as he stood up, "How many Medusa Rocket Launchers do we have left active?"

"Twenty-seven of our original forty, sir."

"Prep all of them but only fire ten on my word, I want them ready before the next attack." Talon turned back to Trevor, "Bring our Hornets in closer to the ship, tell them to stay within range of the PDGs. I have a bad feeling about this."

A crew member turned in his chair and shouted, "Sir! We have a problem! Two more Unknown Alphas just appeared on our radar and they maintaining the same distance as the first one."

Talon felt a chill go up his spine, "Put it on the Holo table."  
The two new egg shaped ships were positioned right alongside as the first. Each ship seemed identical to each other. The bow of each ship had yet to open, he knew it was only a matter of time before it happened. Time was against them and were now outnumbered three-to-one, the only saving grace appeared to be that these were just transports of some type and seemed to possess no weapons themselves. Meaning that if they wanted to destroy his ship, they would have to rely on the Unknowns Bravos to do it.

Talon cleared his throat, "Ahem, Sergeant First Class Hopkins, once you send that report to the Hornet pilots, you have my permission to join the fight. We're gonna need every Hornet we can out there."

Trevor saluted once again, "Right away, Colonel Ryker!"

"Sir, our MRLs are locked and loaded. They are awaiting firing solutions. But sir, I'm not sure if our missiles will puncture the Unknown Alpha's armor."

Talon turned back to the Holo table with a grim look, "The missiles aren't for the Alphas."

A few more minutes passed before the next assault began. The sign that it had started was each ship bow opened just like the first time. Two of the ships launched four cubes each, which all broke into individual units. Another chill went up Talon's spine, the amount of enemies now was eight times larger than the last wave, but he had a feeling that they would be sending reinforcements which is why he prepped MRLs.

However the third launched a different type of ship, one that he hadn't seen before. It shaped very differently from the other ships but had similar color scheme as the Unknown Alphas. At first, Talon thought it was some kind of armored thorny whale with stretched front flippers. It was quite smaller than the Alpha it had been residing in it but at least three time larger than the regular Unknowns that had been thrown at them. And what he had thought were stretched out flippers looked to be normal wings you would see on any fighter craft. And the more he stared at the craft, the more it started to resemble a shark more than a whale.

"Someone designate that new craft as Unknown "Charlie". What can our sensors tell us about it?" Talon asked.

"Piggy-backing on our Hornet sensors can only tell us so much. What we _can_ tell is that this craft seems to not have any weapons are far as we can tell and . . . if our sensors are not mistaken, Unknown Charlie seems to be more hollow than the Bravos."

Talon nervously rubbed his chin, "A hollow ship? Why do I get a troop transport feeling from that thing? Are our hangers locked down still as I ordered?"

"Yes sir."

"Good, keep them that way. We're gonna play this the same way as last time, let them come to us and keep are Hornets close to the _Solar Spirit_." Talon smirked slightly, "Except this time, we have a little surprise in store for our friends."

Another minute passed by before the Bravos seemed to get in groups of eight before speeding off toward the _Solar Spirit_. Unknown Charlie brought up the rear of the advancing Bravos, however once the ship was thirty-five kilometers away from the _Solar Spirit_ , it held its distance as the enemy fighters continued forward.

"Sir, the Bravos are now in range of the MRLs, want us to fire?"

Talon shook his head, "Hold your fire, start giving me the distance they are from the ship."

"Roger, thirty kilometers . . . . . twenty-five . . . . . twenty . . . fift-"

The crewmember wasn't able to finish as Talon shouted, "Fire!"

Panels all over the exterior of the _Solar Spirit_ slid open, revealing ten functioning two by three Medusa Rocket Launchers. Each launcher fired its six rocket payload shortly before the panels slid back over the launchers, protecting them as they reloaded. The rockets raced in the direction of the Bravos, avoiding any Hornets as they were programed. The distance between the Bravos and rockets quickly diminished as they sped toward each other. When the rockets were within two miles, the Bravos began evasive maneuvers in attempt to dodge the incoming ordnance. However, when the rockets closed the distance to half-a-mile, they quickly revealed their true purpose.

The outer coverings of the Medusa Rockets popped off and not a second later, half-a-dozen micro missiles each burst from the innards of each rocket, each micro missile seeking out its own target. The carnage was beautiful from the holotable, enemy signatures were quickly fading from the real-time map. However, this move was just to even the odds, not win the battle. MRLs were merely used to thin the tide of incoming fighter craft or ships with thinner armor. It took several micro missiles to adequately damage a Phantom, but it took at least eight missiles to take a Phantom out of commission as it was with the micro missile's small explosive payload, quantity over quality. And if you launch too many micro missiles at a cluster of enemies, the missiles were more likely to run into each other than the enemy.

As the initial carnage ended, Talon saw that that at least two-fifths of the had been destroyed by the missiles with a little under a third of the remaining incoming Bravos being damaged yet still operational.

Talon nodded to himself, "That should help even the odds a little, have our PDGs fire when they are in range."

The command chair's commlink button flashed letting Talon know there was a incoming message, as soon as he pressed it Trevor's voice spoke up, "Talon, I'm almost to a Hornet now, I'll be launching from the primary hanger bay shortly. How close are the Bravos?"

"Well . . ." A second later, the _Solar Spirit's_ Point Defense Guns started firing at the Bravos that were in range, the sound of the cannons reverberated throughout the ship ever so quietly, "They're right on top of us."

"Understood, looks like I'll be a bit late to the party."

"Just be careful out there, alright?"

Trevor chuckled slightly, "Of course, _mother_."

"Colonel, Unknown Charlie just dropped off our sensors!"

Talon ended the called and switched his full attention back to the Bridge, "What do you me 'Dropped off our sensors'?!"

"It was there one moment and gone the next, we believe it may be using cloaking technology."

Talon groaned, "Well, that's just great. Tell our Hornet pilots to keep an eye out of it, it may just be hiding its emissions so we can't pick it up on sensors. And if they do see it near the ship, take it down."

"Sir! I spotted Unknown Charlie, Portside! It's hiding near our Port Bow thruster!"

A moment later, Talon had a visual on the craft on his personal holoscreen via one of the many external cameras the _Solar Spirit_ , "Well, what are you waiting for?! Have our PDGs and take it down!"

"We can't sir, it's . . . uh . . ." Jacob sounded hesitant, "Sir, it's in a blind spot to our Point Defense Guns."

"What?!" Talon shouted before quickly followed up with, "Get some Hornets and blow it away!"

Jacob nodded before rapidly typing away at his console, Talon returned his gaze to the holoscreen in front of him, " _It's just sitting there. What's it waiting for? It was only a matter of time before we found it, what could i-"_

Talon's eyes widened when he saw exactly why it had chosen to hide there. From the camera's angle, Talon could see the main hangar door slowly opening. Panic seized Talon, "Why is our primary hangar door opening?! I didn't authorize anything! Who's opening the door?!"

His answer was soon answer when he switched to a different camera, one built in the interior of the ship that had a view of the hangar bay. A Hornet hovered slightly above the hangar floor, bobbing slightly left and right as it kept itself stabilized in the artificial gravity of the ship. The one piloting the Hornet was Trevor.

Without wasting a second, Talon contacted Trevor using his holoscreen, "Trevor, abort launch! Abort launch!"

Trevor's voice came through annoyed, "First you don't want me fighting, then you did, and now we're back to sq-"

Trevor wasn't able to finish as the Charlie came flying into the hangar bay, crashing head-on into his Hornet. Talon could only watch in horror as his friend's craft violently spin out of control across the hangar bay, slam into the deck, skid across the metal floor taking out several unoccupied Hornets and Crows, and finally slide to a stop, merely a crumpled mess. Hangar bay personal had dive out of the of the way of craft, and those closest to the ruined Hornet immediately began to check if its pilot was alive.

As much as Talon hated to do it, he had to push Trevor's situation to the back of his mind. They now had a enemy Unknown ship inside their hangar bay, the ship had landed in the nearest corner from which it entered, and at the moment seemed to just be sitting there. Talon had to take a deep breath to keep himself somewhat calm as he issued orders, "Get all available military personnel to the hanger bay! Have hangar bay personnel evacuate, wait scratch that, have them help evac the wounded people we have in there! Our top priority is to keep our enemy pinned in that corner! I want everything we have down there, Grunts, Pilots, Spectres, Sentry Turrets, hell the maintenance tunnel runs right under the hanger bay, get some Titans in there!"

"Jacob!" The crewmember rotated toward Talon at the mention of his name, "You're in charge, don't let me down."

Jacob stood up from his seat, shocked at what he just heard, "Sir! Where are you going?!"

Talon didn't turn to answer as he slipped his helmet on, his visor lighting up shortly after, "I said I want everything we have done there, that includes me. You have the helm Jacob."

The bridge door hissed closed as Talon stepped off the bridge, some of the crewmembers cast their gaze on the new acting-commander. Jacob nervously tugged on the collar of his uniform, "Why me?"

()()()()

Talon sprinted through the corridors of the _Solar Spirit_ , alarms blaring as a automated voice spoke through the PA system, "Intruders on board. All military personnel to the primary hanger bay, this is not a drill."

" _I swear to god, I solve one problem, seven more take its place."_ The Colonel screamed in his head as he rounded a corner.

Talon soon found himself to not be alone, at least a dozen Grunts were a second behind him, booking it to the hangar bay as he was. Soon the corridors became cramped from the Grunts and Pilots pouring into the hangar and the Hangar Bay personnel moving the wounded away from the soon-to-be carnage. When he finally made it to the hangar, he found a weapons cart that was there for people who needed ammunition and weapons. Talon swiped a G2A4 rifle with an Holosight attachment and stuffed his tactical vest full of ammo before sprinting toward the half-circle perimeter that had been formed around the Charlie, trapping any enemy unit that came out of it into that corner.

Metal crates and containers from around the hangar had been pushed to form the perimeter, providing cover for Grunts and Pilots. A pair of Grunts jogged by Talon, both carrying a Sentry Turret. The pair moved over to a box not being used by anybody and hefted the collapsed turret onto it. One Grunt, seeing their job ran off while the second stayed behind for a moment. The Grunt tapped a couple buttons on the small interface before leaving as well. A moment after the Grunt left, the Sentry Turret activated, the gun rose from its collapsed position and began to scan the area in front of it for hostiles.

Talon glanced to the right of the turret and frowned, the space between the turret and the next set of cover was too large. If he could fill the gap with some more boxes or crates, it would provide more cover but the problem was that all the boxes in the immediate vicinity had already been taken and use elsewhere. There were more boxes scattered around the hangar but it would take longer than he would like to retrieve them and set them up.

After looking around careful for a substitute, Talon's eyes fell upon a damaged Crow Dropship, one of the ones Trevor hit as his Hornet crashed. He was thinking on how to move the wrecked dropship when Spectres started pouring into the hangar. Without wasting anytime, Talon quickly waved over six of the metal men. Thankfully to some additional programming on Einhart's end, the Spectres could recognize several other commands instead of just 'move there' or 'terminate'. One of those additional commands was to move an object from one point to another, taken directly from MARVIN programming.

The six wedge-head Spectres stored their weapons on their backs before pressing their metal hands against the side of the ruined spacecraft and began to push. It took a couple moments before the dropship budged but once they started it, the Spectres managed to push it to where it needed to be in one go. Talon winced slightly as the sound of metal scraping against metal filled his ears as they pushed the craft.

Once the new cover was in place, the six Spectres drew their weapons and move away. Several Grunts immediately took cover behind the craft while several others crawled inside and busted out one of the windows to fire out of. Talon took cover behind a crate near the turret that had been recently deployed, aiming his weapon toward the Unknown Charlie.

The craft had yet to do anything else since it landed, from the position it landed in, the half-circle formation was faced with the starboard side of the spacecraft. Another minute went by before the yelling and rushing soldiers around Talon died down, with most of the soldiers in position, their weapons aimed at the unknown craft. Unease filled Talon, whatever these things were they certainly seemed to like waiting, however, Talon did not. His helmet's advanced receptors could pick up some whispering from the soldiers around him but nothing else, save for his own breathing

Then a thought occurred to him, why did the Unknowns send only one boarding ship at them? The Unknown Alphas could easily hold a dozen of these ships, so why only one? That's when it hit him, the first time they sent Bravos to attack them they sent a small group of them, to probe the defenses and see how the crew of the _Solar Spirit_ fought. That's how they knew about the PDG blind spot, because they sent a group to scout it out. Losing units like that is consequence to a machine since all the combat data is immediately relayed back to the Alphas. So who's to say they weren't doing the exact same thing here, they want to know every weapon they have, how many soldiers they have fighting, how they fought, what their strengths and weaknesses are, so then the next wave is sent to overwhelm. Talon managed to level the playing field this time because he used the MRLs and caught the AI with its pants down. If the enemy manages to board a second time and Talon didn't have an ace up his sleeve, chances are they could easily be overrun. And right now, they were pointing every weapon they had at the spacecraft . . . all except one.

Talon whipped his rifle around at the sound of some loud machinery near him, it took him a second to realize it was the maintenance elevator bringing up the Militia's second most deadly weapon, outclassed only by the Pilots themselves, "Titans."

Pushing off the metal crates, Talon booked it to the elevator shaft and found four Titans with a group of eight additional Grunts already half way up. Talon let out a whistle which grabbed the attention of all eight Grunts, "Kill the lift! Keep the Titans in reserve!"

One of the Grunts gave a nod before running over to the lift controls and stopping the lift. Seven out of the eight Grunts along with the four Titan Pilots used the service ladder the rest of the way up, the last one staying to activate the lift again if need be. Talon stood at the top pulling each soldier up and ushered them toward the already formed perimeter.

When Talon returned to his original spot, he found two familiar Grunts crouching behind the crates, "Well, if it isn't Mr. and Mrs. Rivans."

The two Grunts turned their heads in surprise to the Pilot which just crouched down next to them. They only told a handful of people about their marriage but don't remember telling any Pilots about it. Malon's eyes fell to the Pilots weapons and remembered only one Pilot who carried a G2A4 rifle, a satchel charge, and a B3 Wingman, "Talon?!"

Talon deactivated his visor allowing Malon and Jonathan to see into his helmet, "Glad to see you two are arrive and well, I figured you might have been left at Kevan 4, but I'm glad to be wrong."

The three soldiers trained their weapons on the spacecraft as they continued to speak, "I've never seen anything like it. Is it IMC, sir?" Jonathan asked.

"No, I don't think so. These ships are like nothing we have on records, not to mention that none of the ships match the IMC color schemes. Yeah, color might not much to go on but I have never seen a IMC ship with at least some white and blue on it and I have no reason to believe they decided to change that. The IMC loves slapping their label on anything they can." Talon responded.

Malon shivered slightly as she readjusted her R-101C Carbine, "D-do we know anything a-about them?"

Talon rotated his neck to keep it from stiffening up, "Well, the three large ships whoever sent after us and their escorts are completely automated, most likely an AI of some type. Even this dropship is automated."

"But why is it just sitting th-"

Jonathan was interrupted when Unknown Charlie let out a loud hiss followed by a thick smoke which quickly obscured everyone's view of the ship. The smoke started to spread out from the ship and move closer to the perimeter surrounding the ship. Talon was ready to order everyone to fall back in case the gas was toxic in any way, but didn't need to as the smoke seemed to settle about thirty feet from the perimeter. Everyone stiffened when a loud metallic ' _thunk'_ rang out from the ship, whatever was going to come out of that smoke was going to be met with a hailstorm of bullets. Yet nothing happened after another minute.

Fed up with all this waiting, Talon signalled to a group of eight Spectres sitting behind the perimeter, ready to do whatever was needed of them that was in their programming. At his signal, all the Spectre's wedge-heads snapped toward Talon, awaiting his next command. The Colonel pointed twice with two fingers toward the smoke, the Spectres immediately raised their weapons and began advancing toward the smoke. Talon wasn't going to take any chances in case that smoke was toxic, and there were some airborne toxins that even a Pilot's helmet couldn't filter.

The Spectres quickly were enveloped by the smoke, however their footsteps were still easily heard. After a half minute of being in the smoke, a monotone robotic voice spoke back to Talon, "Area clear, no hostile signatures detected."

Jonathan shouted, "'No hostiles'? What the hel-"

A streak of blue light shot out from the thick smoke and struck Jonathan in the chest that was poking out of cover, sending him back a few feet. His body hit the ground with a loud ' _thunk'_ and laid there, unmoving, "Jonathan!" Malon shouted.

A couple more streaks of blue light flew out of the thick smoke striking a few more soldiers before Talon shouted, "Open Fire!"

Every soldier still standing began to unload their clips of ammunition into the cloud of smoke, however due to the smoke, soldiers could only guess where the shots were coming from and hoped their shots actually hit something, even Pilots with Active Radar Pulse couldn't see anything as this smoke was somehow playing screwy with their radar.

"Jon, please wake up! Don't leave me!" Her teary face fell onto her husband's chest, "You promised that you'd never me!"

Talon turned his attention toward the weeping girl, "Malon, get your ass into cover!"

Malon rose to her knees and said, "H-He's gone . . . He's r-really gone."

"Malon, I sa-"

Another blue light sailed straight into Malon's back, burning through her uniform down to her skin. The girl remained stiff for a moment before falling forward, laying her body on her husband's. Something got caught into Talon's throat as he saw the girl fall forward, he tried to hold back the oncoming tears but failed miserably. He hardly knew to two but to see a couple's final moments like that brought him to tears, coupled with the fact that his best friend is most likely dead from the crash.

A bolt of blue energy impacted near his head, causing him to involuntarily flinch. It was these Unknown bastards that are to blame, they're the ones who crashed into Trevor and they're the ones who took the lives of Jonathan and Malon. His grip on the G2A4 rifle tightened, enough so where his mechanical limbs left an impression mark on the grip. Talon rotated around as he stood, bringing his weapon to bear upon the enemy that took his friends from him. That's when saw the smoke had mostly clear, and what he was dealing with.

At first, he mistook it for some kind of odd looking Spectre, but at second glance, he knew it was no Spectre at all. The enemy was robotic, as he assumed, but along with an angular-human appearance, which seemed similar to the Spectre's bulky and angular design. It's head was the most abnormal looking from the rest of the design, sporting two insect like antennae from the top of its head along with six red slits which he assumed were the machines visual sensors. Every machines right forearm had been replaced with an odd looking arm cannon but, despite looking like it was made of metal, the cannon appeared to be flexible much like an arm, especially where the wrist would be. Covering the machines torso, lower body, and left was a black chitin like armor much like a beetle's exoskeleton.

One of the machine's snapped its toward Talon a half second before firing at him. The blue streak of light missed by mere inches, causing Talon to flinch once again. Before the machine could fire at him again, the turret beside Talon swiveled toward the machine and fired. The insectoid machine jerked with every bullet impact, its carcass fell over after a few bullets struck, however the turret continued to fire on the machine for another brief moment before swiveling to engage a different target.

Talon picked a single target out of the crowd, aimed his weapon and pulled the trigger twice. The first bullet slammed into the machine's weapon, throwing it off target as the weapon discharged. The second struck home as it sailed into the machine's chest where the solar plexus would be for a human. The machine fell over with a loud ' _clank'_ , Talon took a quick glance to his left and right to see how the others were doing.

Both Grunts and Pilots were giving the machines everything they had, as they always did in combat. Grunt bodies laid scattered behind the perimeter, some bodies were left alone while others had another Grunt kneeling over them, shouting at them. Talon shifted his gaze back to the enemy in front of him, it was then he noticed that enemy units were still pouring out of the Shark's interior.

Talon noticed a Grunt taking cover behind the crashed Crow with a Archer Heavy Rocket slung across their back. He waved toward the Grunt yelling, "Soldier! You with the Archer!"

The Grunt happened to crouch down to reload his R-101C Carbine when he saw the Pilot waving at him. Talon pointed at the Shark in the corner and shouted, "Send that rocket right into that ship's belly!"

With a nod, the Grunt tossed his carbine to the side before reaching awkwardly behind himself and lugging the Archer onto his right shoulder. With a nod, Talon stepped out of cover and began to pick off the machines closest to them, giving the Grunt some much needed cover as the rocket launcher began to lock onto the ship. The Grunt never got the chance to fire as another bolt of blue energy slammed into the Grunt's stomach, sending him back a few feet.

The Archer rolled off the Grunt's shoulder and into the legs of another Grunt who was also taking cover behind the Crow. The second Grunt turned around when the weapon bumped into him, the soldier notice his dead comrade on the ground and ran over to him, "Oh shit, man down!"

The Grunt pulled his friend's body into cover with a single heave, tripping over the launcher in the process. Talon waved down the second Grunt, "We need to use that rocket launcher to take out that ship!"

"I can't, there are too many of them! We need to thin them out if you want me to have a chance!" The man shouted as he began to lift the heavy weapon onto his shoulder.

Talon looked back to Jonathan and remembered seeing a grenade on his tactical vest. Moving over while in a crouch, Talon gently moved Malon's corpse off Jonathan's chest and retrieved the frag grenade off the man's chest. Once he moved back to the box, a machine suddenly ripped the turret off the crate and smashed it to bits on the ground. Talon ripped his B3 from his holster and put two bullets into the the machine's head just before it aimed its weapon at Talon.

After setting down the hand cannon next to his feet and pulling the pin but kept his fingers on the lever as he shouted, "Grenade volley! Pass the word!"

Grunts and Pilots who heard him started to pull out their own frag grenades and pulling the pins as they passed the word down of the impending grenade volley. About ten seconds later, Talon heard the words, "Grenade volley, ready!" from both directions, telling him that everyone with a grenade was ready. Talon once again nodded to the Grunt in front of him as his fingers came off the grenade's lever, letting off its trademark _ching_ as he did.

"Grenade volley, out!"

Talon lobbed his grenade toward the largest group of machines he saw before crouching back down behind cover and picking up his G2A4. A few seconds later, every grenade that was thrown went off creating a tremendous 'roar' that echoed throughout the hangar. Bits of machines flew everywhere, including over the perimeter. The upper half of a machine landed next Talon, to the Colonel's surprise, the thing was still operational as it registered Talon's presence and started to raise its weapon to bear on him. Before Talon could act, the machine's head simply exploded, showering him with metal bits.

First Lieutenant Vera Dostya's heavy Russian voice came through his helmet's comm, "Covering you, commander."

The Grunt, seeing his chance, stepped out of cover and began locking on to the interior of the Shark. Talon stood up from behind cover and began picking off and machine's that survived the grenade volley, however more machines were still pouring out from the interior of the Shark. Much to Talon's dismay, he noticed a major decrease in the amount of weapons fire coming from all around the perimeter.

Talon heard a loud continuous beep from the Grunt beside him, before he heard the words, "Rocket out!"

The rocket shot out of the launcher, flew above robotic corpses that littered the ground, between two advancing machines, and sailed unimpeded into the Shark's interior. The Shark exploded in a glorious display of of blue flames and scrap metal. The machines still inside and walking down the exit ramp had no chance as they were engulfed by the blue fire and shredded by the shrapnel flying off the ship. Those further away from the ship didn't fare much better as they were either knocked off their feet or shredded by shrapnel or both. Those furthest away were the lucky ones as they mostly suffered a momentary loss in balance.

The Militia soldiers hugged their cover tightly as bits of metal flew past them and over parts of the hangar bay. Talon peeked over his boxes to get a view of the devastation, the explosion had taken out a large portion of the forces on the ground, much of the hangar bay floor in front of him had been observed by either parts of the machines or the Charlie. If they were going to start their counter attack, there was no better time to do it than now.

"Soldiers of Griffin Corps, advance!"

Talon vaulted over his piece of cover and began to pick off the machines closest to him as they started to recover. He could see out of his peripheral vision that both Pilots and Grunts were following suit by breaking from cover and slowly advancing. The amount of laser fire from the machines started to slowly dwindle as the Militia forces pushed the machines back.

Three machines turned their attention toward Talon and began to quickly advance on him. With two quick barks of his G2A4 rifle, the closest fell into the ever growing scrap heap. The remaining two opened fire, one shot grazed his helmet, leaving a black streak where it nearly hit. The second blue streak sailed right into his left arm, throwing his aim off and sending his shot off into the rafters of the hangar. Talon bit his lip as the synthetic nerves on his arm delivered the simulated pain to his brain. Another struck him in his right calf, once again, the synthetic nerves delivered the pain to his head. The shot forced him to his knee just as another shot skimmed the top of his helmet. Talon threw his rifle at the closest machine with enough force to stagger it.

True to Vera's word, a gaping hole appeared in the third machine chest, revealing all the circuitry and metal bits on the inside thanks to her Kraber-AP rifle. Seeing the third machine fall over, Talon sprinted as fast as his synthetic limbs would allow and slammed his shoulder into the second machine that had just managed to recover from being hit with the flying rifle.

The machine's metal feet left the ground for a brief moment before it was tackled to the ground with a loud _clank_. Talon felt three painful jabs to his stomach before he was rolled over onto his back, the machine sitting on his stomach, holding his throat while its energy weapon was held a few inches away from his helmet. The arm cannon began to swiftly before Talon's eye, the weapon grew longer yet thinner with each brief moment. After a few seconds, the weapon finally settled on its second form, a long thin jagged blade had replaced the arm cannon from the elbow down. And to Talon's surprise, the jagged blade began to spin.

"A chainsaw sword?! That is such bullshit!"

The insectoid brought the rotating blade on Talon's left shoulder, scraping past the synthetic flesh with ease and triggering Talon's pain receptors. The Colonel let out a cry of pain but managed to position his left hand on the machine's elbow and lift the blade before it did any real damage. Persistent in wanting to remove Talon's arm, it freed its hand from the Colonel's throat and moved it to the wrist. The blade slowly started to slowly move back to Talon's shoulder, with his right arm pinned under on the machine's leg he couldn't use it to fight back. That was until he remembered his sidearm.

Talon didn't know where exactly where the gun was pointing but he didn't care at the spinning blade started biting into his arm again. The B3 Wingman in his right hand barked, sending a bullet into the gut of the machine. The shot caused the machine to jerk and go stiff for a second allowing Talon to rip out his right arm out from under the machine's leg, plant the barrel of the gun under the chin of the robot, and unload the final three bullets into its head. As soon as the first bullet left the chamber, the spinning blade stopped, the other two bullets were merely to make sure the thing was truly dead.

The machine fell forward, smothering Talon's upper body. The Colonel relaxed, letting his arms fall to the ground. There wasn't any more gunfire so that either meant all his soldiers were either dead or injured or all the machines had been eliminated. The answer to his question was eventually answered when he saw a pair of Militia boots out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey, guys! I found em!" Talon recognized the familiar thick Irish accent of Dalton as the machine was lifted off him and offered a hand up, "You alright there, Cap'n?"

Talon to the hand and was swiftly lifted to his feet, "Bastard tried sawing off my left arm. Would have if it wasn't for my brother's trusty B3." As Talon mentioned the gun, he quickly reloaded the weapon before slipping it back into its holster.

Vera carefully ran over to the both of them, making sure to not trip on anything on the way over. Talon slipped off his helmet and attached it his belt before giving his sniper a sly look, "What happened to 'Covering you, Commander' when that thing was on top of me?"

The heavy Russian accented woman threw up a salute before answering, "I didn't have a clean shot, sir. If I fired, there was a 87.54% chance of hitting you as well. I started to shift to a dif-"

Talon held his hand up to cut off the Lieutenant, "That was a joke Vera, you don't have to be so serious. How's the eye holding up?"

Caught off guard by her superiors informal address of her caught Vera off guard, causing her to take an extra second to respond, " . . . I-It's fine sir, no glitches or technical difficulties."

"That's not exactly what I meant but good enough. Make sure none of these machines are still working, then check for wounded." Vera saluted him once more before moving off and checking for any functioning machines.

Talon let out a sigh, "Still as serious as ever. Back in training, she was a Chatty Cathy. There were some days I wanted to stuff her mouth with a sock."

Dalton chuckled, "Pretty sure that would be considered a crime if you were to go any further."

The Colonel shot him a dirty look, "And you're still as annoying from the first day I met you. For being on a team of elite covert operatives, you sure do talk a lot."

Talon took a quick look around the hanger and found a handful amount of soldiers shifting through the sea scrap parts, a shot ringing out whenever a Grunt or Pilot thought they saw something move, "How many do we have left?"

"Fifthteen, sir. Minus those stationed in critical areas of the ship and those in the Hornets." Dalton answer hesitantly.

"Fifthteen military personnel left?!" Talon all but screamed, "B-But how?! We went into this fight with about a hundred! Not including Spectre and turret support!"

"We . . . We were unprepared, sir. Our kevlar vest were completely useless against their laser weaponry. Our armor is designed to stop bullets, not bolts of energy."

Talon punted a nearby machine head, sending it few yards away. Dalton was right, the Kevlar they had was laced with a lightweight Borium nano-weave along with a thin gel layer to help absorb impact. The Borium nano-weave was a lighter version than the metal used in Titan armor was used by both the IMC and Militia during late in the war. But despite the vest being laced with what was dubbed "Titan-metal", the vest was merely designed to deal with ballistic weaponry and shrapnel.

Conventional laser weaponry was a pipe-dream on both sides, and therefore there had been no need to develop a countermeasure for it. The closest each side had to a conventional laser weapon was the Charge Rifle but its purpose was a Anti-Titan weapon. And without any countermeasures, save for chest-high-cover and such, they were vulnerable, more so than usual. From a hundred soldiers to fifthteen in one battle, a battle they almost lost and would the next time the enemy attacked. Even with Titan support, there was no way that they could hold out against another assault.

"I got several pluses over here, call the medics!" A Grunt called from the perimeter.

A Pilot stepped out of the wrecked Crow, "Same here, everyone in and around the Crow is still alive but not waking up."

"I'm seeing the same thing over here."

"What the hell, is nobody actually dead?"

"Get those medics in here now!"

"I got twelve wounded, zero dead."

Talon shot confused looks in every direction as people called out the same thing: No dead, only wounded, but none of them were waking up. He broke out into a sprint only to fall flat on his face after immediately tripping over some scrap metal. Quickly recovering, Talon then made his way carefully over to Malon and Jonathan. Kneeling next to them, he checked the girl's pulse, a sigh of relief escaped him as he felt the steady rhythm of a heart. He didn't even bother checking Jonathan's, upon closer observation Talon noticed the steady rise and fall of the man's chest as he continued to breath. But despite his best efforts to wake them up through various means such as shaking and talking and eventually followed by yelling and slapping, the two soldiers did not wake.

Talon watched as medics took a look at the wounded began to carry out them out, " _I saw them get shot. Malon took a direct_ _hit! And the medics say other than a 1st degree burn on the impact site, she's completely fine! What the hell is going on!?"_

His gaze fell upon the machine next to him that Vera had saved him from, more specifically, his gaze fell on the weapon that replaced the machine's right forearm. Talon strode over to the headless machine before planting a foot on its robotic spine and ripping the entire right arm clean out of its socket. The weapon was unlike anything Talon had ever seen, made of black chitin like the armor but had a reflective surface. Staring into the barrel yielded no answers to how the weapon functioned, all he could make out was a bunch of wires and mechanical bits he had never seen before.

The ship shook violently for a couple moments, reminding him that the battle was not finished, "Dalton!"

The Irishman turned at the sound of his name, as soon as eye contact was made, Talon tossed the weapon to him, "Get that weapon down to Einhart, see if he can make any sense of that thing. Maybe he can figure out why it didn't kill the others."

Dalton nodded once before running off in the direction of the labs while Talon made his way back to the bridge, determined to make these machines pay for what they did to the men and women under his command.

()()()()

 **15 Hours and 45 minutes until Colony contact . . .**

"Perhaps leaving Jacob in charge wasn't the best idea . . ." Talon muttered to himself as he jogged onto the bridge.

Jacob was now seated in the command chair, being shouted at from all directions. The novice officer was clearly unprepared for the current situation as he tried to think up a different solution for everything that was shouted at him. His uniform was completely drenched in sweat, showing just how stressed and nervous he was.

A crewman off to Talon's left noticed his arrival and shouted, "Commander on deck!"

The sweaty officer swiveled around in his chair, "Talon, I was never trained for something like this! I can't-"

Talon held up a hand to silence him, "I know you tried your best, you're relieved of duty, report back to your usual post."

Jacob merely nodded slightly before standing up and rushing to his usual seat. Talon sat down in the seat and immediately noticed just how damp the armrests were, which was slightly off putting but didn't matter at the current moment.

"Situation report!" Talon ordered.

"Seven of our Hornets are severely damaged and are awaiting access to the hanger bay, enemy Bravos seem to be using laser weaponry like those used in the boarding party. We have no casualties among to report however, it seems that the enemy is ignoring the damaged Hornets but we have no idea why!"

"We've lost twenty-three PDGs bringing us down to fifty-one, however, none of our Medusa or Lancer launchers have been targeted since we closed the protective coverings. Relieved to report that there have been no hull breaches on any deck."

"Hornet teams are mopping up the last bit of resistance as we speak but the Bravos aren't making it easy, they're a lot more coordinated in this assault and seem to be using our own tactics against us. But at the current rate, and if the enemy sends no reinforcements, we should have this wave of hostiles cleared up in a few minutes."

Talon breathed a small sigh of relief, it seemed like they were going to make it through this skirmish. But worry returned to him when he realized that if they were attacked by another, their chances were slim to none and slim just got vented out an airlock. Talon rapped his knuckles on his head, as if to crack open a idea but no decent ones came. The only idea he had in his head was to use Lancer missiles to either destroy or heavily damage the Unknown Alphas, the problem what was stopping the Bravos from blowing the missiles away? Lancers were the polar opposite of the Medusa rockets, slow but with enough punch to penetrate capital ship armor with a few rockets in the right spot. These missiles were meant to be used at close range so the missiles would strike their target before and fighters or PDGs could destroy them and there was no way Talon was going to let those ship surround his.

"S-Sir, you're going to want to see this. Sending it to your screen now."

With a nod to the crewman, his personal holographic screen popped up in front of him. It was a live video from one of the external cameras located on the stern, and what it was showing was unsettling. Both the Alphas that launched Bravos were sending out drones a fifth the size of a Bravo. These little drones zipped around the void of space, latched onto various pieces of scrap metal from the defeated Bravos and carried the pieces back into the Alphas.

"They're collecting scrap? Why?" However Talon had an inkling of what they were doing with that scrap.

Jacob turned in his chair, "Sir, with what we've seen the enemy do, I wouldn't be surprised if there was some kind of fast producing factory within the innards of that ship. Able to turn scrap into fighting drones at frightening speeds."

Talon nodded slightly in agreement, "Yes . . . virtually an endless supply of drones. Gets destroyed, pick up the pieces, fix it, send it back out, rinse and repeat until enemy is defeated."

A crewmember off to the side started to panic, "T-Then how can be b-beat them if they keep coming?!"

"The trick is . . ." Talon paused for a moment before continuing, "Is to destroy the Alphas or at least damage it enough to take it out of commission. The _problem_ is with our weapons, without our twin forward magnetic accelerator cannons or Hellraisers, the only option we are left with is to use Lancers at close range, but I do not want those things any closer."

A moment passed before Talon heard someone clear their throat next to him, he swiveled around to see Sergeant First Class Daniels standing at attention. Talon gave a quick salute, "At ease Sergeant, I'm kind of busy at the moment so-"

"Sir, you're statement earlier isn't exactly true." Talon raised an eyebrow, ushering the Sergeant to continue, "Well, you said our only option was to use Lancer missiles but that isn't exactly true. We _can_ bring all Hellraisers online but . . . it's gonna require something drastic."

"If we can bring them online, then we'll do it." Talon replied without hesitation.

"We need to overload our primary engines."

Talon paused for a few moments before responding with, " . . . Ah . . . well then . . . explain why first?"

"The problem with our Hellraisers is that they require large amounts of energy to activate but our ships power systems being stretched at its current rate with the current damage the Power Core, we would have repaired it long ago but there was a radiation leak and we lack the proper equipment to deal with it . . . Well, not true, we could initiate a reactor purge and that would eliminate the radiation but it would require a full system shut down. Worry not, the leak is properly sealed and has no chance of spreading to the rest of the ship short of someone opening the door to the reactor core. If that happens, the ship would automatically initiate a reactor purge, shutting everything down. Long and short of it is, we do not have the power to bring our guns online. However, we might just have enough power to overload our engines causing them to explode, but just before detonation, there'll be an enormous power surge, a surge which our techies say they can redirect to the guns and bring them online. The power that was being used on the primary engines can be redirected to maintaining the guns, once the guns are warmed up, it takes quite a bit less energy to maintain them."

"So the only way we can save our already damaged ship is to damage it some more." Talon let out a lengthy sigh before asking, "Will it work?"

Daniels shifted his weight to his other foot, "Honestly, we don't know. Something like this has never been done. There is a small silver lining, even if our primary engines do blow, our Port and Starboard side thrusters will still work. And the overloading will give us a temporary speed boost."

The crew was silent, awaiting their commander's decision, the only sound being the beeping consoles all around the Bridge. Talon rubbed his hands together nervously, "Without our primary weapon or Hellraisers, we're as good as dead. Evacuate the Engine room, get everything we can out of there, the less we lose to the vacuum of space the better. I also want the rooms adjacent to the Engine room emptied as well, just to be safe."

"We're on purposely causing our engines to overload and explode to hopefully activate our ship to ship cannons to take out an enemy we hardly know an anything about." Dalton sighed, making everyone on the bridge aware of his presence, "I don't think the word "safe" can be used at all in this situation."

"I'll inform the techies to get ready." Daniels threw up a salute before quickly leaving the

Bridge.

Dalton leaned against the side of Talon's chair before asking, "You think this is going to work commander?"

"What's One hundred and seven-two thousand four hundred and twenty five multiplied by five thousand and four divided by sixty-two thousand one hundred and seventy to the power of pi?"

The Irishman's face became twisted in confusion, "One hundred an- What? I don't even remember the numbers you said, how the hell am I supposed to know?"

Talon merely glanced up at the bewildered man with a deadpan look. It took another moment before a look of realization spread across Dalton's face, "Oh, you have no idea either."

"Alright, open our hangar doors for the Hornets, bring them all home and lock her up tighter than a nun's chastity belt. Keep an eye out for any more of those transports as well, if anyone sees so much as scrap that looks suspicious, light it up." Talon cracked his neck as Bridge personnel began to relay his instructions to the pilots zipping around the _Solar Spirit_. As soon as the last Hornet passed through the hanger shield, the large metal doors quickly slammed shut.

The _Solar Spirit's_ acting commander sat quietly at his chair, his thumbs pressing against his temples. He would have taken any alternative to damaging their ship even further, there was only so much a IMC Carrier could take before giving out. There had been structural damage throughout the ship after the emergency jump, the repairs crews had managed to fix some of the damage but there was only so much a understaffed crew could do. Even if they did manage to bring the Hellraisers online, there was still the chance that the explosion would shake the ship apart.

"Of all the times to take command, it had to be when we were undermanned, unprepared, and if that wasn't enough, I just gave the order to break our legs." Talon leaned forward in his chair, placing his hands on his face, " _Thanks_ dad, for making sure I was ready for a shitstorm like this."

"Sir." Talon sat as he heard Daniel's voice came through his chair's speakers, "Techies say they're ready . . . as they'll ever be for a situation like this. Engine room as been cleared out as well as the adjacent rooms, we're awaiting your word."

Talon pulled up the captain's holographic screen before he opened a ship wide broadcast. Lacking the words to describe what he was about to do, he merely settled with, "All hands, you might want to hold onto something . . . I'm about to do something _really_ stupid. Daniels, do it."

The bridge was silent enough to hear the soft hum of the main engines grow louder. Various consoles began beeping loudly, informing the respective crewmember of the console that there was a problem in the engine room, before it was quickly silenced. The soft hum continued to grow ever louder as the bridge crewmembers were continually pelted with warnings. Talon crossed his fingers as the engine near the critical point, praying to whatever deity that could hear him that he and his crew make it through this.

"Engine status: Critical." Came the _Solar Spirits_ automated system, "Primary engine detonation in ten . . . nine . . . eight . . . seven . . . six."  
Talon looked around the bridge, at the men and women who fought so hard to be here where they are now. These next few seconds could well be their last, but if this was the end, then at least whatever was chasing them couldn't take the ship. Every single crew member aboard this ship would rather be dead then an IMC prisoner, himself included.

"Five . . . four . . . three."

His grip tightened on his chair, enough to turn his knuckles white if they weren't cybernetic, " _You know what, screw promises. Next time I see Yurika, I'm marrying her on the spot. God knows how much longer I'm gonna live while in the Militia!"_

"Two . . . one . . ." The humming of the engine stopped for a moment, shortly before the massive explosion shook the entirety of the _Solar Spirit_ , sending those who were standing to sprawl across the floor. Even Talon was almost sent flying across the floor if it wasn't for his death grip on the chair he sat upon. Other less fortunate crew members bashed their head against their consoles leaving them clutching their head in pain or unconscious in their chairs.

Following right after the explosion, the ship began to creak and groan. Talon rubbed his armrest, "Come on baby, you can make it through this. You're a tough girl, don't give up on me now." Talon encouraged to the ship, hoping his words would encourage the ship to stay together and not break apart.

After a teeth clenching half minute, the shaking subsided and the creaking and groaning of the ship followed shortly after. Everyone waited another half-minute before doing anything, worried that any slight movement might be the straw to break the camel's back. Eventually, the crew members started rising from the ground while others turned back to their consoles, figuring out just how much additional damage was caused to the ship.

Then the best news from all day reached Talon's ears, "Sir, Port and Starboard Hellraisers are coming coming online! Two minutes until full charge!"

A small cheer erupted from the bridge crew at plan's success, however Daniel's voice popped up again on the captain chair's speakers, bringing some bad news, "Colonel, we've had an unforeseen complication. The power surge managed to bring the guns online, however the surge also burned out the power cables that allowed us to to use the guns. Put simply, we can't transfer any more power to the Hellraisers. Each gun has enough energy for one fully charged shot, try to make them count."

The _Solar Spirit's_ eight Hellraisers were half the size of the cannons that were used to take down the _IMS Sentinel_ but with the same power output. The _IMS Melancholy_ was to be the first warship with this new weapon, but before it could be tested in a combat scenario, it was stolen from its dry dock by the Militia and then rechristened as the _Solar Spirit_. The downside of the powerful weapons was that the power draw to activate them was enormous, meaning if the reactor core was damaged before the guns could be warmed up, then the weapons could not be activated until repairs were done . . . Unless you decided to purposely overload the engines.

"Alright, helmsman, show these machine bastards our portside. Start acquiring targeting solutions for our four portside Hellraisers, have all four of them lock onto Unknown Alpha that holds the troop transport. If any ship needs to be obliterated, it's that one." Talon tapped a couple icons on his holographic screen bringing up the charge status of all eight Hellraisers, "Route the control to fire the Hellraisers to my console, I'd like the honor of putting a hole through the bastards myself."

Jacob smiled as he tapped a few more buttons, "I think we won't hold it against you, sir."

Talon's screen shifted slightly as a few new icons popped up, giving him the trigger to fire the weapons. As the portside Hellraisers neared full charge, the targeting computer finished running its equations and moved the guns into the correct positions. The viewport went dark for a moment before a live video of all three Alphas appeared on screen, giving the bridge crew the best view to see how well the Hellraisers did. A small _ding_ from Talon's console drew his attention, informing him that all four weapons were at full charge and ready to fire.

"This is for Griffin Corps, you metal bastards."

His thumb gave the button a firm jab, another humming sound started to resonate throughout the entire ship. About six seconds after the humming started, it stopped, followed by a sharp _crack_. Right after the _crack_ , four beams of yellow light slammed into the Unknown Alpha carrying troop transports, searing four Titan sized holes into its hull. A moment passed before an explosion from inside the blew itself into at least a dozen pieces. Cheering broke out across the bridge at the destruction of the drone carrier, Talon leaned back in his seat as he wiped the sweat off his brow.

"Remaining two Alphas are closing in with drone fighter support, orders?" The minor celebration was brought to an end as everyone quickly went back to their assigned tasks.

"Bring our starboard Hellraisers to bear on them, I want targeting solutions asap! Two cannons on each target, all we need to do is cripple them." Talon shouted as he leaned forward again. They were so close, all they need to do was temporarily take the ships out of commission or at least damage them enough so they back off. Either solution worked for Talon, as long as they could get some breathing space.

As the carriers neared the ship, their drone escorts speed up and broke off in two directions, half of them looping over the _Solar Spirit_ while the other half went under. A chill went up Talon's spine when he realized the Bravo's target, their unfired Hellraisers. Their PDGs wouldn't be able to stop them in time and it would be too risky to re-deploy the Hornets when they were about to be surrounded. Luckily, the _Solar Spirit_ was equipped with an anti-fighter missile system.

"Fire all active Medusa launchers! We can't let them destroy a single Hellraiser!" Talon ordered.

In conjunction with his command, twenty-seven protective metal coverings slid open to reveal the launchers shortly before each one unleashed its payload. Like before, the projectiles moved toward the largest cluster of enemies before the metal coverings of the rockets burst off before unleashing its micro missile barrage. Despite being micro missiles, the amount of ordnance detonated around the _Solar Spirit_ still managed to send minor vibrations throughout the ship.

The surviving drone fighters made a beeline for the starboard side Hellraisers, intent on destroying them whatever the cost. The remaining PDGs began shooting at the incoming Bravos as soon as they were in range, a second salvo of Medusa rockets were fired, thinning the crowd of Bravos even further. Luck seemed to be against them again as the flaming wreckage of a drone slammed into one of the Hellraiser, breaking off its barrel and making it too dangerous to fire. Talon couldn't even stop the safety protocols from kicking in, powering down the damaged cannon leaving them with only three.

"Shit! We just lost a Hellraiser! Don't wait for my order to fire, as soon as those cannons are ready, you fire!" Relinquishing command of the cannons, Talon turned his attention on the ever approaching Alphas. The drone carriers were at two thousand-five hundred meters, putting them in visual distance from the _Solar Spirit_. The gaping maw of the remained open as they approached, giving Talon the impression that they were going to try and eat them, and for all he knew, that could a possibility.

As the ships closed distance to a mere half-mile, the Hellraisers finally unleashed their focused plasma beams of yellow light straight into each ships opened bow. The Alpha that received two Hellraiser beams was destroyed before the lasers even finished firing, the second however still remained in one piece with a giant new hole. Talon began to think up possible ways to finish the damaged Alpha, that changed when the remaining Bravos broke off their attack and returned to the carrier. The bridge crew stopped whatever they were doing to watch the viewport screen as the damaged Alpha began to slow.

Talon waited until the distance was too great even for their external cameras to get a clear picture before opening a ship wide broadcast, "Crew of the _Solar Spirit_. . . we won."

A resounding cheer broke out across the entire ship, crew members ran into each other's arm crying, others were thanking whatever deity they worshipped, and others just thrust them arm into the air with a cheer. The Colonel himself could only smile as his crew went around celebrating, they weren't out of the woods yet but it didn't hurt to celebrate their little victory.

Once the celebration died down, he resumed the broadcast, "Alright people, let's not break out the champagne just yet. There might be more of those things out there and out ship is in a even worse state than before. I want damage assessments, weapon inventory, a headcount, and continued repairs. We have . . . thirteen hours and thirty seven minutes before we make contact with the unknown colonists, so let's try to make the _Solar Spirit_ look pretty as possible. And those who haven't gotten sleep, go and get some, you've earned it. Alright people, we all know what to do, lets to work Griffen Corps! Bring on the burn! Bring on the burn!"

In unison, the whole crew of the _Solar Spirit_ returned with, "Yeah! Brace and return!"

 **Seven hours and two minutes before colony contact . . .**

For the past six and a half hours, the _Solar Spirit_ had been limping through space without any additional engagements from the Unknown drone group. Several hull breaches in the engine room had vented the oxygen and left room decompressed, and due to the _Solar Spirit's_ safety protocol, the only way to access the engine was to enter it from the hull breaches outside the ship. Talon only allowed crewmates who volunteered to assess the damage within the engine room and see if anything could be salvage from the explosion. The reason why Talon only accepted volunteers is even today's technology, there was still an endless list of things that could go wrong in the vacuum of space and he wasn't going to force anyone to go out there..

In the end, three women and two men volunteered and suited up for the zero gravity environment. At the current moment, the five brave men and women were surveying the damage to both the primary engine as well as the room as a whole. Several cameras had been places around the room by the surveyors allowing the bridge crew to monitor their progress. Talon had also ordered a Crow dropship to land on the exterior of the ship near one of the breaches, allowing a quick escape back into the main hangar in case they needed it.

Talon had remained on the bridge, continuing to coordinate with the rest of the ship in repairs. The bridge crew had recently changed shifts, allowing the people who needed sleep to get it. Jackie had long since claimed his chair after wandering in about an hour ago, forcing the Colonel to merely stand next to the chair since he didn't have the heart to force his beloved pet off.

"Sir." Came a dismal voice from behind him.

He was certainly surprised to see that the depressed voice came from Dalton of all people, he had only seen the man sad once and that was when all pornography was forbidden on all military vessels by the higher ups, "Dalton, I thought you were disposing of the machine parts littering our hanger. What's up?"

Dalton's gloomy looked continued as he explained, "Second Lieutenant Elbourne . . . is dying. The doctors say she has a hour, max. She's asked to see you before . . ."

It had felt like something had struck him in the chest, Second Lieutenant Elise Elizabeth Elbourne, or simply just El to most people, was the commanding officer of Wraith Squad and possibly the most lethal woman in the entire Militia. But most importantly of all, El was a close friend to Talon. El had a personal philosophy that if you wanted to fight to protect what's rightfully yours from those who seek to take it, then you had the god given right to do just that, no matter the circumstance. When she heard about a certain young Pilot rising quickly through the ranks that was being denied a spot on the battlefield, instead of talking to his commanding officer, she merely knocked the Pilot unconscious and woke them up on the dropship ride down.

Each time Talon was denied to participate in combat in any way by his father, El always seemed to have some way to smuggle him onto a dropship and into combat, however he wasn't knocked unconscious anymore unlike the first time. She commanded a great deal of respect from every Pilot across the Militia, although nobody knew much about her background, what everyone did know was that El knew approximately seven-nine ways to silently kill a man with a knife. El was a master of being unseen, able to sneak into heavily guarded IMC facilities, plant some explosives or steal some data, and be back in time for lunch.

But now hearing that El was dying filled Talon with a tidal wave of grief, he knew she had to be on the ship somewhere since Dalton was one of her subordinates, the other two squad mates had to on the ship as well if El was onboard. Talon followed Dalton wordlessly to the medbay, several crewmembers saluted as he walked by but he didn't bother to return any kind of sign to them.

The medbay was even more over capacity than before with most of the _Solar Spirit's_ Grunts and Pilots now lying comatose. Other than the comatose soldiers, there were plenty of still conscious soldiers and crewmembers that had been injured after the botched Jump. Some of the wounded were sleeping soundly, their only movement being the rising and falling of their chest. Others however were in obvious discomfort, moaning as they tossed and turned on their bed, hoping that a doctor or nurse would come help ease their pain.

"Oh, Colonel Ryker." The Pilot turned to see Doctor Elton quickly moving around the wounded on the floor over to him. The senior medical officer through up a salute before returning her hand to the datapad she was holding, "Sir, I have found something _very_ interesting abo-"

Talon held his hand up as he shook his head to silence the doctor, "I'm sorry, right now isn't a good time. I'm here to see El off."

"Ah." The doctor's tone became grim, "Second Lieutenant Elbourne, hell of a fighter. After the jump, parts of the ships interior collapsed, like in the engine room. I'll spare you the details but a piece of debris fell on her, crushing and impaling her. When we finally got to her, she was already passed the point of no return, all we could do for the meantime was keep her alive for a little longer. I know I could have saved her i-"

Talon held up his hand again, "Don't go there doctor. You did everything you possibly could, there is no need to make any excuses. Instead on focusing what you _could_ have done, focus on the things you still _can_ do. You're the best doctor we have on this tin can, don't forget it. Come talk to me in a bit after I speak with El, Ill listen to you then."

Before returning to her work, she threw up another salute, "Thank you for the compliment Colonel, I'll do my best to live up to your expectations."

Once the doctor was off, he caught up to Dalton who was waiting at the foot of El's bed. To the right of her bed were two more Pilots, the other two squadmates of Wraith squad. The Pilot lying in the bed was Alec Ryder, a athletic man with brown hair and a heterochromatic set of eyes, one being hazel with the other blue. Talon knew him to be mostly by the books and a all round decent guy, unless you got him drunk. From what Talon could remember, Alec had been banned from about seven bars on the planet they received their training. Being mostly by the books and following most orders to the exact letter, he quickly earned the name Echo by both his squadmates and others. Talon could also remember the commotion that he caused when he first snuck aboard the _Lunar Ray_ back in Angel City. A majority of the people at the scene wanted just to throw him off the ship. Master Sergeant Dion saw the potential in the man, and the will to fight the IMC, and thus requested Andon to fold Alec into the Militia. At the moment, Alec was resting in the bed due to to dislocating his knee after the emergency Jump and a few bruised ribs. However, the doctors said he could most likely be out of the infirmary later that day.

The other Pilot sat at the foot of Alec's bed, yet another brown haired man but with a thin build and his eyes were solid gray unlike Alec's heterochromatic eyes. Blake Galeron was a slacker off the field of battle, never keeping his uniform neat, missing roll call several times a week, often found napping where _and_ when he shouldn't, and singing songs from the twenty-first century at random. Certainly not winning any Pilot of the Month awards anytime soon, however, when in combat situations, all nonsense sails straight out the window with him. Talon was suspicious of the man when he had first signed up, Galeron was the name of a quite famous family that was a big supporter and financial backer of the IMC. After doing some digging around, all suspicions were dashed when he read about a colony girl name Matilda that he fell in love with. The report said that they were to be married soon after they met, but they never got that chance when the IMC found out her town was sitting right on top of a rich deposit of metals. The IMC came as they always did and booted the locals out, injuring or even killing those who resisted, Matilda was one of the casualties. Blake had been recently discharged from the infirmary after receiving a moderate concussion and a cracked rib. Despite still having some minor pain, the Pilot had already collected his armor and weaponry, a silenced RE-45 Autopistol sat in its holster on his right leg while a similarly silenced R-97 SMG sat against his back.

Elise Elizabeth Elbourne was a woman in her mid-thirties but look like she was in her late twenties. Her ear length jet black hair used to cascade all the way down her back but after joining the Militia, she was forced to cut it to ear length, much to her protest. One of her blue eyes had been gouged out by the falling debris, but left her right eye completely untouched. Most of her toned body was wrapped in numerous white bandages, despite having her wrappings changed daily, blood continued to seep out of her wounds and staining the pure white bandages. Even with the anesthetics being slowly introduced into her system through the IV line nearby, it was obvious that the slightest movement caused her quite a bit of pain.

But despite the pain, El still grinned as widely as she could as Talon approached, "Ah, Colonel Ryker, or should I say Acting-Commander Ryker?"

Blake scooted over as Talon sat down, "Ha, how bout just Talon. If anyone is deserving of their rank, it's you Second Lieutenant Elbourne. If anyone on this ship commands an equal amount of respect to my father, it would be you."

El let out a small laugh, causing her to wince in pain, "Gah, fuck it all, it almost hurts to breath."

Talon immediately rose from the bed, "Should I get a doctor?!"

El waved her hand, "No, no. I fear that I don't have much time. I have already spoken to the others, the last person I need to talk to is you, Talon. So sit down."

Nodding slowly, Talon sat back down and listened closely, "Talon, you know that Wraith squad became one of the most feared Militia squads under my command. And should the commanding officer of a Pilot squad be killed, the command of the squad would shift to the next highest ranking Pilot in the squad. Which would be recently promoted Master Sergeant Dalton but . . ."

Dalton shook his head, "No, there is no person who can command this squad except El."

Talon looked at the other three Pilots in confusion, "Wait, recent promotion, I didn't authorize that. Who promoted him?"

"I did." Stated El, "Are you saying that you are denying his promotion?"

The Colonel looked at Dalton for a moment before replying, "Well, if you think he deserves it, then I won't argue."  
El coughed a couple times, a bit of blood came out with the cough. After leaning back in her bed and relaxing for a minute, she continued, "That's good, but he won't lead the squad and Alec and Blake refused for the same reason. Which has left Wraith squad without a future commanding officer."

Talon could already see where she was going, but he could hardly believe it, "Talon, I've asked the others and with some debate, they are willing to let one person assume command of Wraith squad. If you're half as smart as I hope you are, I think you know where I'm going with this."

"B-but why? I never received the training you guys did, sure I know how to use my Cloak well, but you guys might as well be modern day ninjas. Not to mention your Cloaking tech is experimental, which is a big difference from my standard issue cloak."

El turned to Dalton, "Give it to him."

The Irishman nodded before pulling put a small hexagonal device from one of his pouches and handed it to Talon. After Talon examined the device for a moment, he instantly recognized the device, "My god, a Mark VII Shade Stealth Field. I hear this was made specifically for you guys, not only does it generate its own stealth field, it enhances the stealth field emitters built into a Pilot's skin if they have it. This little sucker allows Pilots to be cloaked for a incredible amount of time and with near perfect invisibility, even to other Pilots. This tech is incredible."

Alec chuckled, "You seem to know a lot about a classified piece of tech."

"Well . . ." Talon started, "I may have used my father for authorization to look at the specs when he wasn't looking."

"Sadly, it still has problems." El started, they all could tell she was getting weaker, "It can last a lot longer than the standard model by far. But, extended use in combat tends to overheat it. This model is best used for sneaking into enemy installations undetected. And I'm giving you mine, Talon."

El coughed again, this time violently, causing Blake to stand up and call a nurse over. Talon knelt beside El's bed and took her hand as she began to speak softly to him, "Talon, promise me . . . Promise me that you'll look after them, as their officer and their friend."

"I . . . I don't know what t-" Talon started before he was interrupted.

"Just promise me damn it!" El cough up blood again, tears were running down her cheeks as her grip tightened. Talon leaned in further due to her voice becoming a near whisper, "Please, I need to hear the words, I need to . . . know that they'll be . . . in good hands."

Talon looked the dying woman straight in the eyes as his owned grip tightened, "I promise, I promise you El that I'll make sure they get through this war, so help me god."

Once Talon's finished promising, El's serious expression softened into a smile. She seemed to sink a little further into the bed as she closed her eyes one last time. Her breathing continued for another minute before she let released her last breath, her hand hung limply in Talon's. The other Pilots around him were trying to hold in their tears, but even with all the training they received, it couldn't stop them from weeping over someone so close to them. To Dalton, Alec, and Blake, El wasn't their comrade, or superior, or even their boss, she was their family. Talon bowed his head and muttered a few words before releasing El's lifeless hand.

Talon took a deep breath as he stood, "We'll have a proper burial for her once we're out of this mess. When you guys are ready, report to the bridge. We still have a lot to do."

The three Pilots merely nodded as tears continued streaming down their face. Pilot squads on both sides were always tight knit groups, referring to each other not as fellow soldiers, but rather brothers and sisters. If you saw the man or woman next to you as a brother and sister rather than another soldier, then you'll always fight a little bit harder for them. But if you lose them, then the pain is akin to losing a member of your family.

Giving the three Pilots space, Talon moved a good distance away to allow them some privacy. The Colonel leaned against a nearby wall, letting out a sigh as his shoulder bumped against the steel wall. El was an amazing soldier, losing her was quite a loss for the Militia. But she passed on the mantle along with her personal stealth field generator to him. Talon had two pairs of big shoes to fill, one set from General Andon Ryker and now the other from Second Lieutenant Elise Elbourne. Talon looked down at his feet, he had double duty with two impossible roles, Commander of the _Solar Spirit_ and her crew as well as being the commanding officer of the Militia's legendary Wraith Squad. It seemed like the universe was just trying to crush him with seeming impossible tasks.

"Why so glum, chum?"

Talon whirled around at the sound of the voice, a few beds down lay an injured Pilot he thought to be dead, "Trevor?! My god man, you're alive!"

Nearly jumping over the over patient beds, Talon made his way over to his best friend's side, "I saw the video, I-I thought you bought the farm when your Hornet was all smashed up. Man, it's great to s- . . . Trevor . . . your legs . . . they're-"

"Gone?" Trevor finished for him, "How very perceptive of you commander. I would have never been able to figure out that by myself."

Trevor sat up in his bed, using his one good arm to do so since the other was in a cast. The infirmary had yet to give him a shirt, revealing the numerous bandages on his torso which he received from the crash. At the mention of the lack of legs, Trevor wiggled the two stumps that were once his legs, thick bandages were coiled around at the end of his stumps. Despite the loss of his legs, Trevor seemed awfully chipper despite the whole ordeal.

"Woke up about an hour ago to find my legs were gone. The doctors told me that when i crashed, bits of circuitry and metal impaled itself all up and down my legs. Muscle, shredded. Bones, fragmented. Had at least a dozen bits of metal shoved into my femoral artery, the only reason I didn't bleed out is because the bits of shrapnel went into the artery, but it didn't go all the way through. Docs said it would have been impossible to remove all the metal without causing me to bleed out. Much simpler and easier to just take the legs off where the shrapnel ended." Trevor explained as a few tears of relief rolled down Talon's face.

Talon quickly wiped away the tears, "Man, if I knew you were alive, I would have come sooner."

Trevor leaned over and put a hand on his friend's shoulder, "I know you would have, but if you did, I would have beat your ass and tell you to get back to work. You didn't have any time to worry about a single soldier, you thought about the crew as a whole first and acted on what you thought was right. Not bad for a rookie commander."

"That 'soldier' happens to be my best friend. But you're right." Talon sat at the end of Trevor's bed, "I had to push your crash to the back of my mind and focus on the safety of the ship and her crew. Doesn't mean I was all too happy about it. . . . You hear about El?"

The legless Pilot glanced over to the still three weeping soldiers with a sigh, "It's a damn shame. One of the best damn Pilots in the Militia, gone. And she didn't even get to go out in a firefight. I guess Death knew better to send a armed squad of soldiers at her. So who's the commanding officer of Wraith squad? Dalton? Blake? I sure know it ain't Alec, his score in squad commander training was god awful."

"Me."

Trevor was shocked for a moment before he started putting the pieces together, "Kind of makes since, no one else in the squad wants to take her spot since it has always been her spot. You're on good terms with everyone on the team and you've worked with Wraith Squad several times before so you know how they operate."

"I know I'm the most logical choice but I don't know what to do anymore!" Talon squeezed his fists in anger, "I need to make sure everything on this ship is running as best it can in the shittest conditions, and now, I need to live up the reputation of Wraith squad's commanding officer! I can hardly keep the ship together unlike my father, how the hell am I suppose fill El's shoes for one of the most fear Militia squads?!"

"You can't." Trevor simply replied.

Talon rolled his eyes, "Thanks man, _big_ help you were."

He began to rise when Trevor spoke up, "Sit down and let me finish."

Sighing, but complying, Talon sat back down on the bed and let Trevor continue, "You can't, because you are trying to think like someone else. For crying out loud man, you've already talked to Einhart about this! You fended off that assault all by yourself, you used your instinct and gut feelings. You did what Talon would do, not what your father would do. Now do the same thing with Wraith Squad. Do what _you_ would do, not what El would do. Sure, you may stumble along the way, that's a given. But battles aren't won by a single man, they are won by a group of people working together. I heard how you left Jacob in charge when you went to the hanger, you weren't alone then, you had someone helping you out. And now, you have Dalton, Blake, and Alec, don't think like you need to take the wheel by yourself. They're your squad now, they will rely on you, but in return, you can rely on them as well. It's the wonderful thing about family."

Talon sat silently on the bed, processing what his friend had just told him. Trevor was right, he was starting to think like before his chat with Doctor Einhart. And that way of thinking would have just led to more trouble if Trevor hadn't reminded him that he wasn't alone. He needed to get into the mindset of relying on other is okay, it was okay to show weakness to them as long as you can also show them that you have the strength to lead them.

"Man . . ." Talon laid a hand on Trevor's shoulder, "I'm just glad you're still alive. And lucky to have you as a friend."

Trevor smiled, "Yeah, I know you are."

At that moment, Talon's personal datapad started to chirp, informing him that he had just received a message. After a couple taps, he found the message to be an urgent meeting request by Doctor Einhart in the R&D sector, near his office. Apparently the doctor had discovered something important about the weapon Talon scavenged from one of the machines. Talon slipped the device back into his pocket as he said his farewells to his friend and made his way to the exit.

However, before he could leave, Doctor Elton quickly caught his attention, "Oh commander, about that thing I wanted to talk to you about."

"I'm sorry Jade, Einhart is urgently requesting me, he found out something about the enemy boarder's weaponry. Uh, rain check." Talon quickly left, sprinting down the hallway toward Einhart's location.

"Talon, wait! This has to do with the enemy's wea . . . and he's gone." Doctor Jade Elton let out a long sigh as she was about to go after him, but was suddenly stopped by another doctor, requesting her help with another patient.

 **A few minutes later . . .**

Talon slowed his pace as he entered the lab area, several scientists were scurrying around the lab. As to what they were doing, Talon had no clue but he didn't much care for science, preferring the simplicity of killing before you are killed. Einhart himself resided in the middle of the room, the weapon had been placed on a large stand with various tools spread out across the table. As Talon approached, he could see that the good doctor had been thoroughly and carefully dissecting the weapon, several unfamiliar components which he assumed came from the weapon sat on the table just to the left of the stand.

Einhart heard Talon as he approached, "Ah Talon, I'm glad you came so quickly. I believe I may be onto something with this strange weapon."

"I hope so, if anyone on this ship could figure it out, it's you." Talon encouraged.

The doctor turned back to the weapon, "With this piece of tech, I'm inclined to agree with you. So, let's start with the basics. This weapon is far more advanced than any hand held we have, laser weaponry for the common soldier is still a pipe dream for both the IMC and Militia. So we can probably rule out that whatever these things that attacked us were, they are not IMC."

Talon nodded, "Came to that same conclusion, the IMC like to smack their label on pretty much anything they own. Not one of those ships or machines had anything linking them to the IMC, not even any barcodes or serial numbers."

"What's amazing, besides being a energy weapon, is that this weapon has the ability to transform to mechanical saw with a jagged blade. Or more simply, a chainsaw. I still haven't figured out how the transformation works, I may need to see it actually occur to better understand it. But that's not what you're here for, you're more interested in the fact that this energy weapon managed to incapacitate over a hundred soldiers, both Grunt and Pilot, but did not kill a single one. Well to be honest, I still don't exactly know, but I'm following a lead."

Einhart turned his attention to the bits of tech he managed to remove from the arm, "It seems that this energy weapon functions very differently when it comes into contact with live tissue than when it hits dead tissue or inorganic material. When it hits the latter, it merely burns through it, or at least tries to. It managed to burned through the Grunt's and Pilot's armor pretty easily, but other durable material, such as your cybernetic limbs, it only leaves a burn mark. Meaning that this laser does have a limit to what it can burn through which is good, if it struck a Titan it would most likely only leave a small scorch mark."

Talon rubbed his fingers over the spots he was shot, he had yet to use more spray-on synthetic skin, "So, since I was shot on my limbs, the laser didn't affect me as it was suppose to?"

"Correct." Einhart began to pick up the small bits of tech and examine it closer, "Whenever it hits dead tissue such as a rotting corpse or inorganic material such as a rock, it doesn't do much. However, when it hits living tissue, and let me clarify, when I say living tissue, I mean like a human being or animal, it would probably just burn a plant however I haven't tested it. Anyway, when it hits living tissue, something interesting happens. I still don't understand _how_ it happens, but I understand a little of _what_ is happening. The energy projectile acts as a sort of stunning shot, like a taser. It renders the person unconscious and isn't lethal in any way whatsoever. Now if I'm correct, the stunning shot has a secondary effect but I haven't been able to figure out exactly what it is exactly."

"I . . . can help . . . with that."

The two men turned to see Doctor Elton panting heavily, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. The doctor pointed at them, "You two need to hear what I found. I believe I have found what this _secondary_ effect is."

She eventually caught her breath and made her way over to the two, a large datapad in hand, "Now, the soldiers struck by these beams of lights are in a odd situation. They are perfectly healthy in every way. Aside from the first degree burn marks, that laser did no physical damage to them. I ran MRIs, CAT scans, Ultrasound, basically everything I could with the equipment I have and I found nothing wrong. As a medical professional, this caught my interest. I won't bore you commander with all the details but I believe I have found the reason why our perfectly healthy soldiers won't rise from their slumber."

"Put simply, that weapon has managed to mostly wipe out and severely reduce the production of several that are responsible for a person's sleep-wake cycle. The chemicals are present, however, just nowhere enough to wake them up anytime , before you ask, I have no idea how this weapon managed to both eliminate and reduce the production of the chemicals. However, I do after running a few tests, the chemicals are still being produced but at the current rate, they won't wake for roughly a month, at least."

Talon shook his head, "That won't work, I need those people back on their feet. You said it was a lack of those chemicals was the reason they won't wake up, right? Can you just synthesize some and inject them with it?

"Ja, that could possibly work." Einhart nodded slowly, "I can synthesize the chemicals needed to wake them here in the lab, I will start after I've finished with Talon. Doctor Elton, could you handle the injections?"

"The shots won't be the traditional 'in the arm' injections. But, yeah, it is possible. I'll go and prep the patients, I should be ready in about two hours." Without another word, Doctor Elton turned on her heel and started to walk out before she was stopped by Talon.

"I just wanted to apologize for ignoring you. I'll be sure to make time for what you have to say. Just, keep the science jargon to a high-school level."

The female doctor let out a small laugh before saluting, "Sounds fair, Colonel. Now, if you don't mind, I got some people that need waking up."

With a nod, Talon let her go as he turned his attention back to Einhart. Strangely, the German scientist's attention was preoccupied, mainly with watching the departing Chief Medical Officer. Einhart's eyes followed her all the way out of the science lab and rested on the last spot he could see her, as if hoping she would pop back into the room.

"Doctor Axel Einhart, do you perhaps have some unspoken feelings for my Senior Medical Officer, Doctor Jade Elton?" Talon asked joking with a smirk.

Einhart quickly looked to Talon, back to the spot he last saw Doctor Elton, and then back to Talon, "I've told you many times not to call me Axel." Without another word, Einhart turned back to the bits of machinery on the table.

However, Talon wasn't going to simply let this go, "Oh, I am so going to hook you two up. I'm now just realizing how adorable you two would be, jabbering the whole day away with your science jargon."

Without looking up, Einhart responded with, "I am a man of science, no time for such things."

"Your words say 'No', but your eyes say, 'Please ma'am, may I have some more?'"

"Speaking of eyes, how is Vera's holding up?" Einhart asked, eager to change the subject.

Talon sighed with the resistance Einhart was putting up, "Einhart . . . I once hid myself in jungle-swamp muck for sixteen hours straight waiting for an IMC convoy. Imagine how long I can pester you."

Einhart scowled at him for a moment, his features softened slightly as he looked back to the door, "Believe it or not, me and Jade are actually childhood friends."

Wordlessly, Talon pulled over a stool and sat down as he leaned forward over the table as the Doctor continued, "We were together till about the middle of high-school where I was pulled out due to 'academic excellence' and transferred to Earth for the most elite private school. Back before I moved, my name was Heiner Drach, which is what Doctor Elton knew me by."

"Why the name change?"

"The IMC was planning on making me a 'Scientist of the Future', they wanted everything about me to be perfect to appeal to the high class of the Core Worlds. I was apparently born and raised on Mars, studied on Earth's very own Luna, and then transferred to Earth to continue my work on advanced robotics. To them, recruiting some high-school kid from a Frontier planet wouldn't work with the image they were going for."

"This transfer to Earth, was it what you wanted?" Talon asked.

"Yes, back then the tensions between the Core Worlds and Frontier were not nearly as bad as it was a few years ago. I had the chance to do the work I always dreamed of, my young naive mind never thought they would use me to build weapons that would murder hundreds of thousands of innocent people. They claimed it was only to be used as a deterrent, "peacekeeping". Anyway, me and Jade were pretty sweet on each other, there was no doubt that if I hadn't gone away, that we would be married."

"I assume there is a reason you haven't told her who you are?" Talon questioned as he examined one of the arm cannon's components.

Einhart let out a sigh, "Ja, since high school, our paths have gone in almost opposite directions. She's a doctor, her purpose is saving lives, to make sure a person can see the next light of day. Mine? I help build warmachines, my purpose is to create things that kill. I . . . I've changed and she wouldn't approve. My life is full of bad deeds."

Talon look down at his hands, there was truth to Einhart's words. He was the brain of the Spectre program, a program that lead to countless massacres of Frontier populace. But at the same time, Einhart was wrong. Talon banged his robotic hand on the table to get his friend's attention.

Once the good doctor was looking at him, Talon gestured to his arm, "Tell me, in what way is giving a man back his life a bad thing? True, you founded the Spectre program, but you are now the head scientist in the Militia who focuses on cybernetic limb research. Without you, I would just be a head and a torso in a wheelchair, sure, I could have gotten some prosthetic limbs like other Pilots have, but I can't _feel_ with them. These arms and legs I have with me now feel real, and that alone makes it all the better. You gave me a second chance at life, you gave a man the ability to run, to climb, to _live_. And what's more, you _know_ that you've done something wrong and now you're trying your best to make up for it. I don't think many IMC scientists would've done the samething you did. You're a good person Axel . . . and as for the Spectre program, you did it with good intentions, but you were lied to. That doesn't absolve of what you did, but as I said, you're trying your best to do some good now, and to me, that's all that matters."

The doctor was silent for a minute before responding with, "Thank you . . . It truly does mean a lot of what you said to me." Einhart removed his glasses and cleaned them on his labcoat, "Now, I think we should get back to the matter on hand."

The Colonel nodded as he stood, "We know what they do, now, how do we protect our soldiers from it?"

"Ja, that is the question, isn't it?" He rested his hands on the table in front of the weapon, "Your kevlar vests do nothing to protect you against energy based weaponry. Now, what do we know of that can stop energy projectiles?"

"Metal for one, the metal crates in the hanger seemed to do a good job. However, I don't every Grunt slapping on a sheet of metal to protect themselves without problems." Talon tapped his finger on the metal table as he continued, "From you described, this energy just needs to touch our skin to knock us out, and no doubt a couple bolts would find their way in gaps of the crate armor."

Einhart nodded, "What we need is something to cover the entire body that can stop the bolts, like some kind of body suit or a . . . shield . . . hold on a moment. Riley!"

Another scientist across the room popped his head up from his work, "Something you need Doctor Einhart?"

After waving him over, Riley Morrison quickly jogged over as Einhart started talking, "Riley here isn't a full fledged doctor yet, still hasn't decided what to get his PhD in, but he has a brilliant mind."

The man quickly jogging over to them was skinny, almost unnaturally so. His pale skin indicated that it hadn't seen true sunlight for at least a couple years. His face was covered in freckles with a large pair of glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. It looked like Riley was the spitting image of the average high school nerd on the body of a man in his mid twenties.

Once Riley stood in front of the two, he quickly threw up a sloppy salute which was quickly dismissed by Talon. Einhart grabbed Riley by the shoulder, "Riley, remember that project you were working on, miniaturizing Titan shields for infantry use?"

"Wait what? I thought shield use for infantry was still a pipe dream?!"

Einhart smiled, "It's a scientist job to bring dreams into reality." He turned his attention back to Riley, "You said you had a working model, Ja?

Riley rubbed his arm nervously, "N-No, I mean yes . . . b-but no. It works, but not how it's suppose to."

Riley lead the two to a different lab meant for testing new equipment designed by the _Solar Spirit's_ eggheads. The room was reinforced unlike the other rooms, in case of any explosive mishaps, "The shield on Titans are able to stop anything thrown at them going a certain speed, hence why bullets, rockets, and a variety of other projectiles are stopped while Pilots can easily enter and exit their Titans. I've been working on a shield that functions somewhat similarly, a shield that what extend over a soldier a quarter of an inch from their clothes or skin if they happen to be wearing nothing."

"And what's the problem then? And why aren't the higher ups taking interest in this?!" Talon couldn't help but ask as he waited for the two doctors to step up a bunch of various lab equipment.

"I've run nearly a hundred tests on the thing, and no matter what I do, I can never get the shield strong enough to stop a bullet, not even a sidearm." Riley explained, "And then there is the issue with the _power_."

Talon held up a hand to silence Riley before turning to Einhart, "How is a shield that can't stop a bullet suppose to help us?"

"I will admit, everything I'm thinking of right now is just a theory. But every scientific discovery was at one point just a theory. So in the _Solar Spirit's_ darkest hour, we may be advancing science that could prove our very survival. Our Titan's shields are made of energy, as are the enemy's projectiles, and because of this, if my theory is right, if the shield is strong enough, it should be able to stop the energy projectile. Simply put, a bullet can go through a thin energy barrier, a energy projectile can go through a thin metal barrier, my hope is that when two energy projections clash with each other, one could not simply pass through the other without a bigger reaction, and the stronger one should negate the other. If it works, then we just have to make sure the shield is stronger than the energy projectiles." Einhart explained.

"Again, the power supply problem." Riley chimed back in, "I haven't been able to make it . . . portable. While the shield generator can fit snugly right above a Pilot's thruster pack, the Pilot would also have to carry a small generator with them to power it, and when I say small, it would have to be the size of a child . . . and it would _still_ have to be nuclear."

"Let's worry about _that_ when we're sure that the shield can stop a blast from the weapon. Einhart, you think that you get the arm cannon to fire?"

Einhart brought a hand to his chin "Hmm, I believe so, however I will need a new weapon, I'm good at dissecting foreign technology, not so much at putting it back together."

Talon simply nodded, "Still plenty of parts in the hanger, I'll have someone bring an intact arm here."

"In the meantime, Doctor Einhart, may I request you assistance in finishing setting up the device?" Riley asked as he began pulling out a mannequin from the corner of the room.

The two scientists busied themselves in getting the device setup as they discussed potential ways of getting away the power supply problem. The device in question was rectangular in shape and about half the size of the Pilot thruster pack that would be place along the spinal column right above the thruster pack itself. When the two finished plugging in various wires, the device began to give of a very slight hum, he wouldn't have heard it if the room hadn't been deathly quiet after the two finished. Along with the gentle hum, the device lit up and gave of a blue light similar to the visor color their helmets had. A few minutes later, a crew member walked with the arm cannon in hand. Not wasting any time, Einhart set to work on getting the device to fire. Using his note he had taken on the dissected weapon, he began to hook up a variety of wires to a nearby terminal from the arm itself.

With one final tap of the entry key, Einhart took a step back from the terminal with a puzzled look, "I _think_ that should do it, the weapon should fire now . . . or blow up. Guess there is one way to find out. Riley, fire up the shield."

Across the table from him was Riley with a similar terminal, with a nod and a couple taps on the keyboard, a dome of faint blue erupted around the mannequin, similar to the Titan's dome shield each one has when it was deployed. However, a moment after the shield activated, the dome began to shrink in size until the shield itself rested about a quarter of an inch from the mannequin's surface. Once the shield adjusted its size, the faint blue light disappeared from sight but Riley assured him that the shield was still active.

With a sigh, Einhart said, "Guess this is the moment of truth."

A single press of a button, a streak of blue light shot out of the arm cannon and straight into the mannequin's chest. A bright blue light flashed off the chest where the bolt had struck it, however, the flash hadn't come from the bolt itself but instead the shield protecting the chest. The shield itself had a slight ripple effect to it after the bolt hit but vanished after a moment. The mannequin's chest itself was untouched.

Riley couldn't help but jump with a cheer, "Hell yeah! It works, it really works! Granted, it still can't stop a bullet but this means my work wasn't for nothing!"

Even Talon had to smile, they now had a way for Grunts and Pilots to be protected against energy weaponry. It still needed some work but it was the first step toward a reliable defense. After Riley calmed down, he ran it through another test where the weapon was repeatedly fired until the shield overheated. After several trials, the average came out to be five hits before the shield failed and needed time to recharge.

Talon examined the device further before turning to the still slightly celebrating scientist, "Riley, with the _Solar Spirit's_ 3D printers, could you start producing these shield generators?"

"I mean, we can, I have the specs needed to build it on my personal datapad, wouldn't be that hard to input it into one of the printers. But there is still a lot of kinks to work out before it's ready to be used in a combat scenario." Riley explained, not bothering to look up as he did.

"We may not have time for that, it works and that's the important part. If we're attacked again, we _will_ need them for the ship will fall. Sure, it's unconventional and it will limit both Grunt and Pilot mobility by a lot. But honestly, we don't have a lot of options here, can you get it done, Riley?"

The fledgling scientist looked up from his terminal, "I'm no fighter, knowledge is weapon. While I can't use it to smash some machines, I certainly can use it to help give you an advantage in fighting those machine freaks."

Riley looked Talon straight in the eyes, "Commander, I promise, I _will_ make sure this device is combat ready next time we meet those tin cans. Permission to request help from the other scientists?"

"Granted, save for Einhart and whoever he needs to help him wake up our people. Whatever parts you need, don't bother asking, you're granted . . . unless you need parts from the ship itself, then we will need to talk."

With one final salute, Riley began making a list of parts and items he needed before requesting the other scientists to join him in the testing room. He also sent the schematics for the shield generator down to the MARVINs working the assembly line down that was located next to the hanger. Finally, Einhart picked two other eggheads to assist before heading off to synthesize the chemicals they needed to wake the troops.

Talon on the hand saw no more purpose for himself to remain in the R&D part of the ship. With a farewell to Riley and Einhart, the Colonel began making his way back to the bridge. It was unnerving to see such a lack of of soldiers roaming around the ship, at the moment, they only thirty-even Grunts and twelve Pilots on active duty. Twenty-five of those thirty-seven Grunts weren't in hanger when the battle raged on but were either stationed on the Bridge or the at the Life Support Systems as they were the two most important facilities on the ship at the current moment. Since the fight, a few more Grunts and Pilots had been discharged from the medbay such as Alec and Blake.

The two of them along with Dalton were awaiting him on the bridge, Pilots usually followed their commanding officers around during situations like the one they were in case of enemy attack. This was so they didn't have to waste time finding each other and instead head straight to where the fighting is and wreak havoc. Four Pilots can cause a lot more damage than just one. As Talon stepped onto the Bridge, Jacob rotated in the Captain's chair to see him and immediately stood up while saluting him, shouting the phrase, "Commander on Deck."

Talon dismissed the Acting-acting-Commander with a simple salute before sitting down in the chair. The other three Pilots of Wraith squad walked up to him, awaiting his orders. With a sigh, Talon leaned forward in the chair, "The passing of El has hit us all pretty hard, you guys more than me since she was your commanding officer and friend. But knowing El, she wouldn't want us to mourn her passing, instead she would want blast a IMC base to kingdom come in memory of her. Lord knows she would have loved to go out in a firefight, but as my friend Trevor told me, Death was a lot smarter than to send a hit squad after her."

That comment earned a slight chuckle from the other Pilots, Talon ran his hand through his shaggy hair, "We all know that I have no-where near the same level of skill as she did, just the mention of her name was enough to get some IMC soldiers shaking in their boots. While I can't lead Wraith squad the same way she did, I will try to lead us in way that would make El proud of all of us. I hope you guys can put up with me until I can get the hang of things, I will certainly stumble along the way, so you guys will have to be right beside to catch me in case I fall."

Alec smiled, "I trust your judgement, sir. Give me an order and I'll my damndest to follow it to the letter."

"Hey, I can put up with anyone who doesn't tell me to shut up when I'm singing." Blake slugged Dalton in the shoulder, "Main reason I didn't want this guy becoming our squad officer."

Dalton chuckled as he slugged Blake back, "Between you're singing, music selection, or your need to sing in firefights, I wouldn't know which one I would need to change first."

"Hey." Blake pointed an accusing finger at Dalton's face, "You did _not_ just badmouth my music selection."

" _Dude_ , those songs you're singing, they're from the early twenty-first century. Can't you get something a little more modern?" Dalton questioned. Instead of listening to Blake's rant about how 'Most songs these days are garbage', Dalton turned back to Talon, "Honestly, better you than me running this squad, no offense. But I have a feeling that you'll do okay, and if not, El will probably rise from her grave and kick your ass seven ways to sunday."

"Knowing her, you're not wrong. Thanks, it makes it a bit easier to accept this job knowing you guys are behind me. Better get comfy though, I'll be spending a lot of time on the bridge." Talon warned as he leaned back in his chair.

"Don't worry about that." Blake retrieved a deck of cards from one of his pouches and began shuffling the cards, "I've mastered the art of finding ways to alleviate boredom."

Alec eyed the deck of cards, "Per Commander Ryker's orders . . . Er, _Andon_ Ryker's orders. All playing cards of any type are prohibited while on active duty. Seriously, he sent someone to the Brig for two days cause he was in possession of a deck of cards."

"Well . . ." Blake started as he continued to shuffle the cards, "Andon isn't in charge at this moment. What say you, Talon? Gonna send me to the Brig?"

Talon cocked an eyebrow at Blake, "Seriously . . . my old man banned playing cards? Game away, as long as it doesn't interrupt your duties."

"We're playing Poker then." Alec quickly chimed in.

Blake stopped shuffling at Alec's quick change of heart, "Well . . . that didn't take long."

Alec merely shrugged, "Hey, never said I didn't play the odd game when we were planetside."

"No drinking though." Dalton added, "I heard what you did during basic in those bars."

"Stuff it, will you Dalton?" Alec retorted, anxious to get the game started.

"El . . . why did you leave me in charge of these idiots?" Talon muttered with a chuckle.

 **Two hours and thirty six minutes until colony contact . . .**

With everything calmed down from the most recent attack and no more major issues arising, Talon had allowed himself a quick nap. He was woken an hour later from a chirp on his datapad, informing him he had a message. It was then he realized that Jackie had jumped onto his lap at some point during his nap and now was soundly sleeping. Not bothering to reach for his datapad in his pocket, he simply opened the the Captain's chair holoterminal which he had linked with his datapad. The message had been from Doctor Jade Elton with no subject listed, however, the message itself was all it took him to get moving.

"They're waking up."

Much to Jackie's growls of protest, Talon picked Jackie up of his lap and set her back down on the chair. Seeing that Talon was on the move, the other three Pilots quickly gathered up their cards and followed quickly after him. It was a short trip to the hanger bay were most of the comatose soldiers had been placed due to the medical bay being over capacity. The formerly comatose soldiers were slowly rising from their cots that were provided for them. Many of them felt nauseous, a few of them found the closest bin to vomit into as they rose to their feet. Doctor Elton spared all the doctors she could from tending to the other patients, she wanted to do a thorough examination of each formerly comatose soldier to ensure there were no lasting effects.

Not wanting to stand idly, Talon tasked the other member of Wraith squad to help out the doctors in anyway they could. The four them helped patients up from their beds, gave them a shoulder to lean on as they walked, or quickly moved them over to the nearest waste bin should they need it. The process was slow, each soldier needing quality time to make sure they were going to make a full recovery. Thankfully, as time went on, the nausea began to wear off, allowing the soldiers to get around on their own without aid.

Talon breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that all of the comatose soldiers had woken, they were going to need every person they could get next time the Unknowns roll around, he could only hope that Riley would have his little gadget ready when they did. A pair of familiar voices caused his head to turn, both Malon and Jonathan were holding each other close as the doctor tending to them asked them a series of questions. As Grunts and Pilots were cleared for duty, their first action was heading over to the nearby weapon trolley and loading up on everything they would need. He couldn't help but feel a little proud of his soldiers, they had just been cleared for duty after waking up from a horrible experience, and their first thought was to get ready for the next battle. He wouldn't expect anything else from Militia soldiers, but it still filled him with a sense of pride.

Doctor Elton waved him over once she cleared a Pilot for active duty again. She tapped a couple more things on her datapad as the Colonel walked up, "I am happy to report that all soldiers that were comatose will be making a full recovery."

"Fantastic, with your help, we now have a chance of giving those tin cans another black eye in case they decide to come for round two."

"Interestingly, remember when I said the production of several chemicals in the brain had been severely reduced in the comatose patients?" She asked, stowing away the datapad on her hip.

"Vaguely, what about it?"

"Well, just ran another series of tests on our patients. The chemical production for those three have returned to normal, meaning we won't have to keep administering the chemicals every time they need to wake up."

"So . . ." Talon started, "Do you know why that is?"

She merely shrugged, "I don't honestly know, I've never seen a weapon able to neutralize several specific chemicals. We were just trying to wake everyone up that no one bothered to start taking data. All we know is that our method works, we'll be keeping a large supply of those chemicals on hand for the time being."

Talon nodded, "Good idea, let's hope we don't have to use it. I'd rather not get into additional fights until we get back to Militia space."

"Personally," Elton started, "I've had enough of this war. Too much loss of human life, so much potential wasted."

With a hand of her shoulder, Talon reassured her, "One day Doctor . . . One day."

Without another word, Talon left the Doctor to her responsibilities and made his way back to the R&D sector of the ship to check on the progress of Riley. After looking around the labs for Einhart, he learned from another scientist that the old scientist decided to get some much needed rest. With the need to find Einhart gone, he entered the testing lab and was greeted with an explosion and a black cloud of smoke. With lungs full of smoke, it was difficult to put on his helmet with all the coughing he was doing. Thankfully, Alec already had his helmet on and helped the other three.

Once his helmet was sealed on, the filter system almost immediately expelled all the smoke from within the helmet and fresh filtered air flooded back into Talon's lungs. It took a moment to stop coughing, but once he did, he was greeted with an amusing sight. Riley Morrison's entire front half was stained black from what looked like several explosions, a oxygen mask and safety goggles protected his face from the smoke however.

Riley lifted up the goggles to expose that the skin around his eyes laid untouched by the smoke creating another amusing sight, "Hmm . . . so _that_ didn't work. I'm running out of ideas here."

"I think I making gas masks required for this room." Talon stated as he walked up, still coughing lightly.

"Ah, commander! Checking up on my progress, I assume?" Riley asked as he tossed the piece of metal that had once been a shield generator into an ever growing pile of blown up tech.

"You assume correct. I'm guessing by the pile of generators over there, progress is not good?"

"Yes and no." Riley simply stated before continuing, "Since I'm not the only one working on this, we've managed to work out quite a few kinks. We found that extended use tended to short out the generator, fixed that. A horrible miscalculation on my part was brought up by another scientist has been quickly fixed as well. An-"

Talon held up his hands to stop Riley from moving on, "What, _exactly_ , was this horrible miscalculation?"

"Umm . . . The shield might _or_ might not have prevented oxygen from passing through its field." Riley rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Good thing we got that fixed before moving onto human trials."

"I'm not even gonna ask how you screw something like that up." Dalton chimed in.

The Colonel rubbed his chin, "What seems to be the problem then if you've managed to work out a lot of kinks?"

"Power!" Riley shouted as he banged his fist on the table, "I haven't been able to find a suitable power source. All Titans have a small nuclear reactor which powers everything, including the shields. Sadly, I haven't been find any way to build a pocket sized nuclear reactor, so I'm looking into alternative powers sources. I thought I was onto something at one point from an old movie I watched a while back, sadly, I don't have the specs needed to build a miniaturized Arc Reactor. So, if we're attack again with laser weaponry, the best I can give is the current model plugged into an external power source."

"We'll make do, thankfully, all of our comatose friends have waken up and are ready for the next fight. Anything you need before I take off?" Talon asked.

"A solution to the power problem." Riley joked, "Nothing, I have a feeling I'll think of something soon. I'll have a MARVIN grab whatever I need.

Leaving him to his duties, Wraith squad returned to the Bridge to prepare for the coming contact with the colony. Talon continued to hope in his mind that this colony was neutral or friendly and was willing to help with repairs. If they turned out to be hostile, there was a high chance that would be the last battle of the _Solar Spirit_. Talon could only pray, and pray he did.

 **Zero hours and zero minutes until Colony contact . . .**

"That has to the reddest planet I have ever seen." Talon remarked as he ordered the ship to a full stop.

The planet in question reminded Talon of Mars which had he seen in pictures, just a massive red planet. A pang of nervous filled Talon's stomach when he considered that they may in fact be at the Core World's very own Mars, but that was quickly dashed by the fact that besides the orbital debris that could be seen from the view port, there wasn't a single ship arriving or leaving the planet. He ordered the ship to be kept a distance away from the debris, he knew of a tactic that the both the IMC and Militia has used in that past. It involved rigging the orbiting debris with high-grade explosives and detonating them when a enemy ship passed near, and the last thing Talon needed was more explosions shaking his already beat up ship apart.

"Open a broadcast, boost the strength as much as you can. Let's see if we can make some friends today, shall we?" Once Talon received a thumbs up from one of his crewmates, he clicked a button on his holoscreen which started the broadcast. But even as he pressed it, he didn't say a word. He needed to be very careful with his next few sentences, if he let it slip that this was a Militia ship, and the people planetside were sympathetic to the IMC, that would spell disaster. Or even if he let them know that the _Solar Spirit_ was in fact a military vessel, that alone could cause the colony to become hostile toward them. But at the same time, if he hid the fact and it was later discovered, that too could make them hostile.

It was a long half minute until Talon took a deep breath and began to speak, "This is Commander Ryker of the _Solar Spirit_. Our ship has suffered major damage after a botched Jump and an attack from an unknown AI entity." He thought for another moment before continuing, "We are a military escort for a private security company. We are armed but we will power down weapons if requested. We are seeking permission to land and commence repairs on our ship."

Talon removed his finger from the button and awaited a response, praying that whoever heard them on the other side wasn't having a bad day and was in a good mood. There was also the possibility that they didn't hear the broadcast due to the _Solar Spirit's_ damaged communications relay.

"Private Security, Sir?" Jacob asked, swiveling around in his seat.

"Yes. Private security is used both by the Militia and the IMC, meaning that we could be from either side. Here's hoping they tell us who they support, if any side, before they ask us the same thing." Talon explained, hoping for a response soon.

After a minute of waiting, Talon was about to start another broadcast when some static came through the bridge speakers. He could hear a voice through the static but couldn't make anything from it, "Try to lock onto that signal, boost it as much as you can!"

"Sir, there's too much debris, it's creating too much interference." Came a crewmember to his left.

"Damn it." Talon sighed as clenched his fist, if they wanted to speak with whoever was on the other side they needed to move through the debris which dangerous by itself, especially without shields.

"Helmsmen, start easing us through that debris field. Nothing fancy, I don't mind if you scratch the paint but try to keep her in one piece if at all possible." With an 'Aye, Aye, Commander' from the two helmsmen started to move the ship carefully through the chunks of destroyed ships. Talon opened another broadcast to try and inform whoever was responding to them of their intentions, "This is Commander Ryker, our communications relay has been damaged. We are currently navigating our way through a debris field to get a better signal."

Halfway through the debris, a horrible screeching of metal on metal burned its way into the Bridge crew's head as the _Solar Spirit_ began sliding along a piece of metal. A moment later the sound stopped as the helmsman corrected their course, "My bad! That was my bad."

"Th- . . . _Ika_ \- . _chi_ . . . Tarak Em- . . . to who- . . . eaking?"

"This is Commander Ryker of the _Solar Spirit_. Our communication's relay isn't working properly, we are currently navigating a debris field in order to receive a better signal." Talon responded to the broadcast.

"Un- . . stood. We ha- . . . . scanners no- . . inbound . . . -ur location."

Talon relaxed back in his chair, "Alright, if I heard them correctly, they're going to come and greet us. Helmsmen, as soon as we're out of the debris, bring us to a full stop."

After a couple more teeth clenching moments of metal scraping across the hull of the _Solar Spirit_ , the ship finally broke through out the other side, giving everyone on the bridge a clear view of the red planet below . . . along with the small fleet of ships approaching them. Certainly not the type of welcoming party Talon would have wanted, but sadly, this was their planet, meaning they would have to deal on their terms.

Most ships commonly had a length much greater than their width, as it was from the first row boats built back when humanity back on Earth. However, it seemed that the ship approaching them decided to ignore the common design, not that it mattered in space with the lack of water or resistance in general. While the main ship had about the same width as a Unknown Alpha, that were the similarities ended. The ships were much more angular, and seemed to have a more human touch, and unlike the Alpha, this ship had actually responded to his broadcast. What seemed a little odd was the fact that while most of the main ship was angular, sitting atop the ship was a more sleek and curvy design that seemed out of place, almost like it was apart of another ship. Along with the main ship Talon counted about six support vessels surrounding what he assumed was their capital ship.

"This is the _Ikazuchi_ of the Glorious Tarak Empire, power down your weapon systems or we will fire upon you."

"Well . . . this isn't how I hoped this went. Do as they say, power them down." Talon smirked a little as the PDGs, Medusa and Lancer weapon system were powered down, "They didn't say anything about powering down the Hornet Squadrons we have ready in the hanger."

Talon thumbed the broadcast button again, "Our weapons systems have been powered down, as you requested. I assure you that our intentions are only peaceful. Our ship came under at-"

"I don't want to hear it." Came the voice sharply, annoying Talon to some extent. It was he noticed that the _Ikazuchi_ was requesting an open video transmission with him. He figured it was time to see the face of whoever was on the other side of the call.

Once he accepted, he was greeted to the sight of an older man, perhaps in his mid-fifties, the man was bald yet had a neatly trimmed moustache with a near military uniform with various decorations and commendations littering his chest, signifying him as a high ranking officer of this _Tarak Empire_ , an empire that Talon had never heard about.

The man seemed to be surprised in some, for when Talon opened the video, the man seemed to jump slightly. Recovering quickly, the man began to question him, "Boy, I demand to speak with the commanding officer of the _Solar Spirit_."

Talon couldn't help but cock an eyebrow in response to his request, "This _is_ the commanding officer of the _Solar Spirit_ , Acting-Commander Talon James Ryker."

"Acting?" The man asked with a slight bit of annoyance, "Where is the regular commander?"

"Currently in a coma after our Jump Core went haywire and flung us to a set of unknown coordinates, causing a lot of damage to our infrastructure. We are resting permission to land, and start repair operations." Talon requested, as politely as he could.

The man looked off screen for a moment before turning back to the camera, "Our scans of your ship show a small spacecraft near the rear of your ship. What is its purpose?"

Pushing aside the fact the man scanned his ship without the Talon's approval, he answered as respectfully and quickly as he could, "It's purpose is ferrying a small crew of repairmen from our hanger to the hull breach that occurred in our engine."

The man again looked off screen, this time for a bit longer than last, "Hmm . . . Our scans are showing heavy damage across your ship, it also shows signs of a recent battle."

"We were engaged by an unknown AI entity, we managed to fend off the assault, just barely."

After a slight grumble, the man sighed, "You caught us on a bad day, this was to be the day we crush our long time enemies."

Seeing an opportunity to butter up to the man, Talon took it, "I can assure you that we had no intention of interrupting your long time anticipated assault. Nor any intention of stopping you, not that we could with warships such as yours. We simply need to land and start repairs on our vessel. Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated."

The Tarak officer ran his fingers over his well kept moustache, deep in thought, "You seem like a decent man, Commander Ryker, something each person in the Tarak Empire should aspire to be. Very well, I will permit you to land on our planet. We shall spare what we can to get you ready to send on your way."

"I thank you, as does my crew. I assure you, we won't take up anymore of your time than is needed." Talon sighed in relief, knowing they were going to get the help they needed.

"Commander?" At the mention of his rank, Talon turned in his seat to see Vera standing at attention beside him.

"Ah, Vera, something you need?" Talon asked, carrying a cheerful tone.

"I was wondering if you knew where Doctor Ein-"

"Is that a woman?!" Shouted the Tarak officer with what seemed like horror in his voice.

Confused, Talon answered simply, "Yes, she is a soldier under my command."

The man took a step back, aghast by what Talon had just said, "Y-you traitor!"

Talon held up his hands defensively, "I'm not sure I understand, can you please elaborate why this is a problem."

"How dare you throw yourself in with those monsters! And to think, I was about to allow a ship full of women on our home! You're working with those on Mejere, aren't you?!"

"I swear to you that is not true." At the mention of Mejere, a crewmember began to see if it popped up anywhere in their ship's database but the result was nothing, "We don't even know what Mejere is, nothing is coming up in our database."

"Lies! All of it! That very woman's presence aboard your ship tells me everything I need to know. Know this, Acting-Commander Ryker, this deception will cost you your life as well as the lives of your crew!" Before Talon could respond again, the video channel was closed.

Talon remained silent for a moment, shaking in fear, still processing what just happened. Seeing their commander frozen in place, Dalton stepped forward, "Orders, Sir!"

Snapping out of his trance, he turned his gaze to the viewport, watching the Tarak ships approaching. With their forward cannons still disabled, their Hellraisers done for good, and with no shields protecting their already weakened infrastructure, their options were extremely limited. If they stayed where they were or charged forward to meet the ships, there was no doubt they would be picked apart by their enemies weapons. What they needed most was cover, and luckily they weren't too far from it.

With the goal of keeping his crew alive, he began to bark orders, "Helmsmen, full reverse into the debris field, make sure those bastards don't get a clean shot on us! Bring our weapons back online, PDGs, Medusa's, Lancers, everything we got!"

Alarms began blaring once again, signifying to everyone on board that they were once again in a combat situation, "Sir!" Came a crewmember to his right, "If we enter the debris field, we won't be able to deploy our Hornets, the field is too dense to allow for safe flight, even for our best pilots!"

"That hopefully means the same thing for them, even if they send their fighters into the debris field it'll mean they'll have to dodge the debris _and_ our PDGs." Jacob answered for Talon, "Even IMC Ace squadrons would be hesitant to engage us with Phantoms in this environment. Not to mention, these guys aren't IMC. The Tarak Empire along with Mejere isn't showing any hits in our database. And I highly doubt the IMC would support any self-proclaimed empire other than themselves."

"Jacob's got a point, the IMC would most likely just attempt to roll over these guys." Talon added on to his XO's statement. It was then the Colonel noticed Vera still standing beside his chair, shaking as he did a minute ago, "What's wrong, Lieutenant?"

She slowly turned her head toward him, still shaking in place, "I'm so sorry, sir. I've doomed the ship, I didn't mean for-"

"Silence, Lieutenant, that's an order." Stopping mid sentence, Vera couldn't help but look away in shame. Before she could leave the bridge, she felt a hand grasp her shoulder, "Don't you think for even a _second_ that this is your fault. He didn't get angry at you, he got angry at the fact I had a woman aboard my ship . . . which is weird."

"Both the Militia and IMC have women serving in their armed forces." Blake chimed in, "If I may sir, I think the reason that old bastard was infuriated was not because you had a women aboard your ship, but because you're working with one."

"Explain."

"Well, he did say 'How dare you throw yourself in with those monsters', right?" With a nod from Talon, he continued, "Which means he considers all women to be monsters, at least that's what I figure. Meaning one of two things, One: Could be that he hasn't had any luck with the ladies from birth, unlike yours truly, meaning he has come to despise women as a whole since he never had a girlfriend. _However_ , I don't think this is the case. To order the destruction of a vessel just because it has women on it? I have a feeling there is more to this than has been revealed."

"And the second option?" Alec encouraged for Blake to continue.

"The second option, the more unlikely of the two but more reasonable to assume in the current situation, is that we may have found a colony of only men who are at war with women."

The five Pilots stood silently, even when the ship began to scrape against pieces of debris, nobody among them moved or even flinched.

Vera finally broke the silence, "An entire . . ."

"Planet of . . ." Alec contined.

"Men." Dalton finished, "You know, Blake, I honestly thought you were on to something there for a moment. For a split second, I forgot the man who was talking was the same man who used prototype Cloak technology to steal extra rations and sleep during training drills."

"Guys, I'm being serious here. I'm not saying it happens once every five colonies, but it is a possibility." Blake encouraged his fellow Pilots.

"Blake." Alec started, "This isn't one of your homo erotic fantasies, this is real life."

Blake could only deadpanned at his fellow squadmate, " _Dude_ , you've seen my stash. You really think I'm gay? I even loaned you one of my personal collection not even a week ago."

Dalton couldn't help but smirk, "Alec 'By the Book' Ryder, you borrowed something from Blake's collection? Didn't know you had it in you."

Alec began to stammer out a poor excuse but was silenced by a voice that brought them back to the task at hand, "In case you haven't notice-" Shouted Jacob, who was now standing beside the Captain's chair, "We are a bit of a situation right now!"

Talon couldn't help but curse himself, he had taken his eyes off the battlefield for more than a few moments. And doing so could have cost him the lives of his crew, luckily, it seemed the Tarak fleet was holding position just on the edge of the debris field. No doubt trying to come up with some solution to smoke the _Solar Spirit_ out of cover.

Gritting his teeth, he shouted, "Status of our weapons, are they back online?"

"Almost, weapon system restart is nearing ninety percent, weapons should be active within thirty seconds!"

"Sir! I seeing something strange on one of our external cameras, I can't be certain due to the debris, but it looks as if the enemy is deploying Titans."

Talon cocked an eyebrow, "Titans? In space? What in the hell? Try to bring it up on screen."

The video wasn't the best quality, the external camera being used obviously had taken some damage. Not to mention pieces of debris kept flying past the camera, obscuring the view repeatedly. But between the patches of video static and pieces of debris, Talon could clearly make out some sort of Titan-like mech deployed around _Ikazuchi_ but one that didn't show up on their ship's database. Talon wasn't aware of any type of Titan that could operate in Zero-G existed or was even being developed. As a Pilot, it made no sense to him, Titans were unstoppable forces of nature but they were designed to do so in ground combat. There had been suggestions before for a Zero-G Titans on both sides but the plans were rejected. While the Zero-G Titans would be heavily armored, they're maneuverability, speed, and general usage would be easily outdone by both the Hornet and Phantom. They would be slow moving targets in the openness of space, easily picked off by fighters and warship weapons as well.

However, there would be one area where Zero-G Titans could infinitely useful, and that was in debris fields. While they could be easily destroyed due to their speed in the wide open areas, that disadvantage went straight out the window when cover was introduced. Using their thrusters, the Titans could maneuver between pieces of debris and asteroids using them as cover from enemy fire, something that both Phantoms and Hornets could not do easily.

Panic began to slowly fill Talon, right now they were in the middle of a debris field, the ideal battlefield for a Zero-G Titan. Both their Medusa and Lancer missiles would be next to useless, there was only so much they could maneuver through with their programming. Their only hope would be their PDGs, but they could be easily countered if the Titans started using the floating metal slabs around them as bullet shields. Just as Talon was about to order the full retreat, the next words he heard made his blood go cold.

"Unknown ship above us, Sir! Distance . . . Two hundred meters!"

"Those metal bastards are back?!" Talon shouted, standing from his chair as he did.

"Uh, no. . . Sir." The crewman responded sheepishly, "Let me rephase, _unidentified_ ship. The design does not match the Tarak vessels nor the the three Unknown AI vessels we encountered before. My apologies for the confusion."

Unable to hold a sigh of relief, he breathed a long one as he sat back down in his chair. While the unidentified ship could still very much be a threat, he rather deal with that than with another Unknown carrier.

Shifting back into combat mode, he once again leaned forward in his seat, "What's its present course, and how the hell did it sneak up on us?"

"From what we can tell, it's heading toward the Tarak vessels, it passed right over us within throwing distance and did nothing. As for how it was able to sneak up on us, we believe that is was drifting through the debris field, with its propulsion system offline to minimize its signature. Micro thrusters could have been used for minor course corrections if needed."

"I'm tracking several new spacecraft exiting the debris field, much smaller than the vessel that just passed over us but still bigger than the Titans surrounding the main Tarak vessel. Wait . . . I have visual confirmation that the new arrivals are engaging the Tarak fleet. The smaller vessels seem to be some kind of fighter/bomber hybrid. Highly agile, and packing _a lot_ of firepower."

Jacob swiveled his chair to face Talon, "Commander, as your second in command of this vessel, I highly suggest we use this chance to escape. There is a possibility that once these two factions are done fighting, the winner will come looking for us."

Talon rubbed his stubbly chin, thinking of the best course of action to take. But the decision he decided on would cause most of the Bridge personnel turn toward him with only confusion.

"Helmsmen, take us forward. The _Solar Spirit_ is getting in this fight."

Jacob stood up in protest, "Sir! The _Solar Spirit_ is in no shape to fight! She's barely managing to hold together after the last battle. And you want us to charge headfirst into another?!"

He gestured for Jacob to sit before responding calmly, "We have no idea where we are, we could be on the very edge of the Milky Way galaxy or in the next system over from the Core worlds and we wouldn't know the difference. We have numerous wounded on board, our primary engines are gone as is our Jump Core, our ship to ship guns are either still down from the Jump or rendered useless from the engine overload. Not to mention our ship's infrastructure has taken an enormous beating. If we run now, we will be right back where started but with no destination. What we need right now, is a friend. Someone at least to set us in the right direction. This is the call I'm making . . . we are helping the new arrivals engage the Tarak fleet!"

"By your order, Sir." Jacob said flatly before swiveling back around to his console.

The _Solar Spirit_ groaned slightly to the sudden change in direction, but complained no more as the ship began trailing after the new arrial vessel. It took a few minutes for the _Solar Spirit_ to breach the field once again, but they did so to a welcome sight. The 'Friendlies' as they were simply labeled by the crew, had already destroyed several Tarak ships. The Zero-G Titans had been thinned as well, these Friendlies were making quite quick work of the _Glorious_ Tarak Empire.

It was then that he and several others aboard the Bridge noticed something, the Friendlies' fighter/bomber craft were using _energy weaponry_. Rapid-fire laser weaponry seemed to slice through the Tarak ship's hulls with ease. Talon swallowed nervously, he _needed_ to get these friendlies on their side, their very lives depended on it.

"Enemy fighter craft have breached the hull of the _Ikazuchi_. What the . . . Sir, the entire squadron of the Friendlies' fighter craft have entered through the hull breach. It seems that that these fighter/bomber hybrids may also triple as a troop transport."

Talon scoffed in amazement, "Three in one spacecraft, hot damn, the higher ups in Militia command who die to get their hands on the blueprints for those."

"Sir, with the Friendlies fighter craft inside the enemy ship, the remaining Titans and support ships are closing in on the Friendlies' flagship! Orders?"

Talon hardened his face, anger clear in his voice, "Maneuver us into position along the friendly flagship. Let's show these Tarak bastards what happens when you threaten the lives of my crew. Have PDGs target those incoming Titan craft, prep _all_ Medusa and Lancer launcher pods, acquire targeting solutions for the three incoming support ships. I want the Lancer missiles to fire four seconds after the Medusas, let the smaller missiles catch them off guard and knock them off their feet. And just as they start to recover, the Lancers will gouge them out."

"What of our Hornets on standby, Sir?"

"Keep them that way, I don't want to show our new allies _everything_ we can do. Keep our aces up our sleeves for the time being." Talon responded, glancing off to the holotable next to him to see the battle playing out.

As he was hoping, the Friendlies' flagship didn't so much as look their way as the _Solar Spirit_ was brought up alongside it. As the enemy Titans approached, they were torn apart from a hailstorm of lead and plasma from the two ships. The Titan husks crashed into both ships, bouncing off the Friendlies' shield but leaving some dents on the _Solar Spirit_ , luckily, there was no reported hull breach from any of the impacts. Once the three Tarak support ships were in range, the two newly allied ships took two different routes to deal with the problem. The Friendlies' ship began to back off, pelting the three approaching support ships with plasma fire, hoping to the deter the three from approaching any further. The _Solar Spirit_ however, remained steadfast, as every functioning Medusa Rocket Launcher popped out of the _Spirit's_ hull, fired their payload, and then retreated back down into the hull, its protective coverings sliding back over the launchers. A moment later, the Lancer Missile Launcher performed the exact same actions, releasing their three missile payload. For a few moments after both payloads had been fired, most of the _Solar Spirit_ was covered by thick smoke from the resulting backblast of each rocket and missile firing in quick succession.

Attempting to shoot down the rockets before they hit, the support ship's gunners fired their rounds at the rockets, managing to destroy a few and disable most of them. However, their true purpose was once again revealed when both the surviving and disabled rockets unleashed their micro missile payload. Due to the small size and sudden appearance of the micro missiles, the support ship gunners had no chance to stop them. The Medusa micro missiles pelted the hulls, scoring a few lucky breaches across the three ships but merely leaving most impact sights with a mere dent. Seeing the second wave of rockets incoming, the gunners began to fire widely, hoping to take out as many micro missiles as possible before they hit. However, it soon became clear that this second wave of missiles wasn't like the first wave, but it was discovered too late. Ten seconds after the micro missiles impacted, the Lancers dived straight into the support ship's hull. The Lancer missiles wreaked havoc, both on the inner and outer sections of the support ships, completely ripping apart two of the ships and sending the third's lifeless husk off into the void of space.

However, unlike when the Unknowns were beaten back, there was no resounding cheer when the Tarak ships were destroyed. Because, unlike last time, they were killing their fellow humans, and death of this scale was not to be celebrated lightly. Once the support ships were out of the picture, the Friendlies flagship charged forward through the debris toward the flagship, the _Solar Spirit_ following closely behind.

As they began to approach the enemy flagship, something unexpected happened. The part of the _Ikazuchi_ that seemed out of place from the rest of the ship suddenly detached itself and was hovering toward the two flagships while Tarak's began to retreat. Talon figured that the Friendlies' boarding parties must have entered the now separated segment of the ship, and the commanding officer must have ordered the separation to prevent the boarding parties from taking over the entirety of the ship. With the ship being separated within minutes of the boarding parties attack was either a testament to the skill of attackers . . . or lack thereof for the defenders.

With the Tarak flagship retreating, Talon let out another sigh of relief, thinking the fight to be over. The Friendlies' flagship would no doubt collect the cargo aboard the separated segment before retreating off into space. Talon's hope was that these Friendlies would let them tag along long enough to get some repairs, or at the very least know where they are and where to go head for friendly Militia territory. Several capsules could be seen shooting out of the segment ship and flying back toward the Tarak ship, it didn't take a genius to realize that they were escape pods. Seeing the pods gave Talon some hope, knowing that their new friends weren't merciless. Just as Talon was about to lean back in his chair and rest his eyes for a moment, another alarm sounded through the bridge.

"Sir, we have missile lock on us! The enemy has fired three missiles, one for each ship! Impact in . . . wait . . . this can't right. . . No, it's right. Impact in five minutes."

Talon couldn't help but laugh, "Jesus, five minutes till impact?! My god, we better get going, by the time they reach us, it'll be Christmas. Seriously, somebody should get out and help push those missiles."

Everyone on the Bridge couldn't help but chuckle, for a missile to take five minutes for it to reach a motionless target was something of an insult to modern technology. Even their slow moving Lancer missiles would be considered lightening fast to the ones coming at them. Talon felt a little insulted at this attack, at the speed they were going, he could sprint to the other end of the _Solar Spirit_ and back before the missiles hit, granted, he would have to use the maintenance tunnels to make it back on time.

But if Talon knew anything about missiles, it was the slower the missile, the bigger the payload. Not every missile however fit this rule, they were exceptions of course, but most seemed to follow this pattern. And if these missiles coming at them was applicable to the rule, that meant the payload could probably destroy a small moon. His ship even without the main engine could match the speed of the missile coming at them, however the Friendlies still had people onboard the separated ship segment meaning that their flagship wasn't going anywhere without its crew. True to his thinking, the flagship soon moved underneath the segment and extended a docking tube to start funneling their boarding party back. However there was a chance that they wouldn't be fast enough, thinking that this was the time to show their worth to their new friends, Talon decided the best course of action was to eliminate the missiles outright. It wouldn't be hard to hit them with the speed they were going at anyway.

"Lock on some Medusa rockets to each missile, let's buy our new friends some more time." Talon ordered, relaxing in his chair as he did.

A few moments went by before Jacob spoke up, "Sir, there's been a problem. The missiles, they're . . . they're emitting some kind of energy signature. We can't get a lock on them with our missiles. If we wait and use the PDGs until they're closer, we still might be caught in the blast."

"Simple enough, send our best Hornets out there. Tell them engage the missiles at maximum range, and to run when they blow." Talon suggested.

Jacob nodded as he began to relay the command, "Roger that, Sir. Issuing orders to our Hornets now . . . Orders away, preparing to open the main hanger do-"

Before Jacob could finish, all the lights out across the bridge went out simultaneously. A chill went down Talon's spine when he realized what was happening, the _Solar Spirit_ was shutting down.

"Report, was the hell is happening?!" Talon barked.

"We have a full system shutdown, I repeat, a full system shutdown. We don't even have emergency power!"

"Everyone, switch to your datapads, even with the power out, they'll still work. Someone find out what the hell is going on!"

Within moments of switching, the problem was identified, "The door containing the radiation leak in the Power Core shorted out! The entire reactor room has been sealed and the power core is shutting down to prevent any additional leaks and contamination! No casualties reported! A reactor purge is being initiated, time to purge completion and Power Core restart, two minutes and twenty seven seconds."

"And time until missile impact?" Talon asked, already dreading the answer.

"Twenty seconds after reactor restart . . ."

Talon rubbed his hand through his hair, his hand shaking the whole way through. Talon was scared, he didn't want to die, and he knew the chances of survival were really slim. But if he lost his cool, than those under him would likely follow. For them to do _their_ job, Talon need to do _his_ job.

"Alright, helmsmen, the _second_ you have control of the _Spirit_ , full reverse. I want the PDGs to target the missile coming at us, we might be able to push it off course enough to miss us. The rest of you, hunker down, as soon as the power is back on I'm issuing all hands to brace for impact. This is gonna get pretty rocky, you all understand?"

Murmurs of agreement could be heard throughout the Bridge as people start to prepare. All the terminals on the Bridge came equipped with safety harnesses for the chairs, the harness was typically only used for rapid atmospheric reentry to prevent people from slowly floating out of their seats.

Thirty seconds from reactor restart, Talon finished strapping himself in as the other members of Wraith Squad removed a nearby wall panel containing emergency seating behind it which they strapped themselves into. With fifthteen seconds left, he wiped the sweat brow as he picked up Jackie and held her tightly to prevent her from going flying. With five seconds left, he readied himself to make an emergency ship wide announcement. And with zero seconds left, he thumbed the broadcast button and shouted for dear life to save as many as he could.

"All hands brace for immediate impact, I repeat, brace for immediate impact!" Before he braced himself and his dog, his heart told him to add one more thing, "It's been an honor serving with all of you, see you all on the other side, one way or another!"

"Full reverse, full reverse!"

"Fifthteen seconds!"

"PDGs are opening fire, it won't be enough!"

"Everyone, hold on!"

"Please god, please get me through this!"

"Nine seconds!"

"After this is all over, will you marry me?!"  
"Took you long enough to ask, you idiot!"

"I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die!"

" _Bark!_ "

"3 . . . 2 . . . 1!"

All Talon saw the gray steel floor of the Bridge, followed by a blinding flash of light blue light, followed by an infinite void.

 **So it has been some time since my last upload, a long while in fact. I really have no excuses besides I just lost motivation so I just just shoved this project to the side. I have some rekindled motivation so I decided to start writing again while I have it. As for how I will introduce Titanfall 2 into the story, I have some ideas to do so, so we will be able to have all the new fun toys.**


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